West Indies are depleted and weak to Australia’s mastery of day-night Tests however they’ve not given up hope they will salvage the second Test and keep away from a 2-0 whitewash at Adelaide Oval.
Following the batting masterclass of Marnus Labuschagne and Travis Head on day one, West Indies coach Phil Simmons stated he was optimistic his facet too may capitalise on what appeared a batter-friendly deck after they had the prospect to return serve.
But when Australia despatched West Indies in to bat after storming their option to a declaration at 7-511, the beforehand flat wicket appeared to return to life and thwart the vacationers’ ambitions.
Son-of-a-gun Tagenarine Chanderpaul (47no) was West Indies’ shining mild, memorably belting Nathan Lyon over deep midwicket for the primary six of the Test match, however the vacationers are 4-102 at stumps on day two and nonetheless path by 409 runs.
“It’s a long task,” batting allrounder Devon Thomas stated of his facet’s hopes.
“I think that if we could get some partnerships and stuff together, if we could at least get about 280, we could at least save the match.”
West Indies have misplaced Kemar Roach (hamstring), Jayden Seales (knee), Kyle Mayers (shoulder) and Nkrumah Bonner (concussion) to harm this sequence and had to make use of Adelaide membership cricketer Omar Phillips as an emergency fielder on day one.
While the casualties haven’t helped West Indies of their bid for an upset, they haven’t damaged the facet’s spirit.
“We always have good mood, good camaraderie and stuff like that,” Thomas stated.
“You can’t complain about the mood.”
Pink-ball aficionado Mitchell Starc and Pat Cummins’ substitute Scott Boland had the hosts off to a formidable begin with the brand new ball nevertheless it was Michael Neser who proved the largest handful for West Indies’ prime order early on.
Neser produced the constant line and size that West Indies couldn’t and was rewarded for his troubles with the wicket of Kraigg Brathwaite, by far West Indies’ greatest batter within the first Test.
The Queenslander pitched exterior off stump and Brathwaite edged straight to Alex Carey.
Nothing higher summed up West Indies’ struggles to acclimatise to the circumstances than Shamarh Brooks’ dismissal, which was virtually a carbon copy of his captain’s.
It wasn’t simply tempo that troubled West Indies, with Jermaine Blackwood entering into single figures too, caught and bowled by Lyon.
The wicket marked the seventh time Lyon had dismissed Blackwood in Test cricket.
After Cameron Green broke what was shaping as a promising partnership with Thomas (19), Chanderpaul continued to take it as much as the hosts to complete the session with 4 boundaries to his identify.
But he’ll want some assistance on day three if the vacationers are any probability of mounting a comeback.
