Garth Wattley
Kingston
As he left the field yesterday afternoon, captain Ricky Ponting looked pleased with the state of play at Sabina Park.
His century on the first day of this First Digicel Test match, gave Australia the chance to dictate the match.
And notwithstanding, the outstanding work of Fidel Edwards on Day Two, the West Indies batsmen will have a big job to do when they resume this morning with their first innings total on 115 for three.
Ramnaresh Sarwan’s side are still 316 runs in arrears of Australia’s first innings total of 431.
But their main remaining hope, Shivnarine Chanderpaul (25), is currently in partnership with Runako Morton (23). Together they have already added 47 for the fourth wicket.
The effort restored calm after Stuart Clark, Australia’s studious fast medium pacer (8-1-18-3), had removed Devon Smith, Brenton Parchment and Sarwan.
The Chanderpaul/Morton stand was launched in the same resolute spirit in which the West Indies approached their work all of yesterday.
Their bowlers regrouped to take the remaining six wickets for 130 runs after Australia resumed the day on 301 for four.
Edwards fully deserved his sixth five-wicket haul in 32 Tests—five for 104—and the applause he received from the holiday crowd at Sabina as he left the field at the end of the Australian innings.
“The coach has been asking (us) to put the ball in the right areas. The wicket has been playing up and down so, the way, I bowled is probably the best I’ve bowled against them,” Edwards reckoned later.
Bowling with the same sustained control, pace and aggression which had earned him the wickets of openers Simon Katich and Phil Jaques on the first day, Edwards added overnight batsman Brad Hodge (68, nine fours, one six), well held, one-handed by wicketkeeper Denesh Ramdin; Brett Lee lbw; and last man Stuart MacGill bowled middle stump to his collection.
He was, in this innings, a true strike bowler. And captain Sarwan would have regretted not being able to pair him with Jerome Taylor, out of this game through injury.
In support of Fidel, Darren Sammy (29-7-78-2), Dwayne Bravo (22-6-61-1) and Darren Powell (29-4-99-1)—the only other bowlers used yesterday—kept the batsmen in check on a pitch which had quickened from the opening day and which increasingly played at varying heights. The Windies fielders also continued to take fine catches and dove around with gusto and purpose. Truly they worked hard on this Labour Day in Kingston.
However, Hodge and nightwatchman Mitchell Johnson—caught at mid-on off Sammy—were the only wickets in the first session which ended with the Aussies on 372 for seven.
At the crease still though, was Andrew Symonds. The morning had been a struggle for the big-hitting, dreadlocked all rounder.
It took him 10 balls to open his account and at lunch he was just 18 from 57 balls. But in what eventually blossomed into an unbeaten innings of 70 with eight fours and two sixes, Symonds played to suit the situation for his team. In doing so, he ensured that Australia crossed the 400-run mark.
Shielding MacGill, he managed to add 32 for the tenth wicket with the genuine tailender at a time when the wickets had begun to come reasonably quickly for the home side.
Lee fell victim to the tricky bounce, an Edwards ball he was anticipating to pass chest height, striking him low down on the pads. And Clark’s uppish push at Powell allowed Bravo to show his great athleticism once more as he sailed to his right at mid-off to take the catch with both hands, well off the ground.
Their departures triggered Symonds into second gear. Very fortunate to get the benefit of the doubt for lbw from umpire Russell Tiffin against Edwards first ball after lunch, he went on to plunder five of his eight fours and the two sixes. That second six off Edwards was such an easy-free-flowing hit over long-on, that Symonds looked then to be a man who had merely been toying with the opposition.
In fact, he took 52 runs off the Windies following the break from only 58 balls.
It was that kind of adaptability and patience Sarwan needed his players to show when they began to bat.
Smith and Parchment, old West Indies Under-19 opening partners opening for the first time together in a Test, gave the West Indians in the Sabina crowd encouragement by posting 47 for the first wicket.
They were watchful in seeing off Brett Lee.
Smith, so attractive through the off-side, took consecutive fours backward of point off Lee’s new ball partner, left-armer Mitchell Johnson. But Lee’s replacement, first change Clark didn’t present the batsmen with such opportunities.
Slower than the other two, he was a more full-bodied version of Glenn McGrath and mirrored his great predecessor’s accuracy and patient probing around the off-stump.
Clark’s patience paid off in his third over. Smith’s bat didn’t come down quite straight enough to prevent an inside squeezing from his pads onto his stumps.
Smith would have been disappointed by his manner of dismissal when on 32 (three fours).
But his captain would have been appalled at his own.
In Clark’s fifth over, Sarwan followed a ball well wide of his off-stump and in attempting help it over the slip cordon, got a top edge which a leaping Haddin clutched above his head. Not a bad way to claim your first Test catch.
A chastened-looking Sarwan left the scene with his side on 62 for two.
Six runs and seven balls later, he was joined in the dressing room by the belabored Parchment.
A quick and confident scorer in regional cricket, the native of St Elizabeth’s parish here, he looked ill-at ease on his home ground against these very different opponents.
He got few free hits. And eventually, after facing 60 balls, Clark ended his stay via another Haddin’s catch as the batsman pushed at him.
At 68 for three, a very difficult afternoon appeared to be taking shape for the homesters. However, Morton and Chanderpaul held steady for the reaming 74 minutes of play.
Australia are clearly in front.
But the Windies seem intent to keep making up ground.
