West Indies Dig Deep: Lead Swells Past 200 at Tea
West Indies Dig Deep: Lead Swells Past 200 at Tea
Day 3 of the pink-ball Test at the Gabba saw the West Indies push their lead to 205 by Tea despite constant attacks from Australia. While Australia struck three times in the second session to keep the visitors in check, the middle order made up the majority of the contributions, and none of the batters converted their starts.
Soon after Dinner Alick Athanaze was gone. Just before Dinner, Nathan Lyon threw one up and off to entice the batter into a long drive. Steve Smith made up for the drop by holding onto a regular take in the slips.
Kavem Hodge’s stunning on-drive helped the West Indies lead surpass 150 runs. In reality, he played a few of those to give himself a strong start. But Travis Head’s brilliant fielding and quick thinking at short leg saw him run out for 29. As Hodge dove desperately to establish his ground, Head made a clean stop and quickly sent the ball back onto the stumps after the batter had flicked it firmly at Lyon.
When Mitchell Starc came back to the attack and sent out Joshua Da Silva, the first innings’ star, for a cheap price, the West Indies had hardly recovered. After a few errors in fielding earlier in the day, Cameron Green timed his jump well to take a catch on his second try at gully, and Da Silva, who was new at the crease, drove lazily away from the body.
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Subsequently, there were moments of anxiety for both Justin Greaves and Kevin Sinclair. In actuality, the former was fortunate to witness a thick inside edge barely avoid the stumps and make it to the first ball inside the ropes. Greaves hit two successively fortunate boundaries in the very next over; the first ball’s edge cleared backward point, while the second ball’s edge stopped short of gully.
After that, the seventh-wicket combination appeared composed and put up an uninterrupted 27-run partnership to go to Tea with 183/6 on the board, a lead that exceeded 200. To pose Australia a difficult goal, the visitors will need this pair to solidify their chemistry.
Brief scores: Australia is trailing by 205 runs by West Indies 311 & 183/6 (Justin Greaves 32*; Nathan Lyon 2-40).
News Source: Cricbuzz
