Bravo, Roach battle back for the Windies

Dec 12, 2015 Sports

HOBART, Australia, CMC – Darren Bravo is on the verge of a century leading a courageous fight-back against Australia who inflicted more misery on West Indies on the second day of their first test here yesterday.

Darren Bravo drives through the off side. ©Getty Images

Bravo played with class to be undefeated on 94 as West Indies stumbled to 207 for six after Australia declared their first innings on 583 for four at Bellerive Oval. After another dreadful performance in the field, the visitors put on a woeful batting display capitulating to 89 for five before a sixth wicket stand between Bravo and Captain Jason Holder carried them past 100.
At the close, Kemar Roach on 31 with three fours, is providing solid support to Bravo and their stubborn seventh wicket stand is nine runs shy of a century. Adam Voges and Shaun Marsh put on 449, the highest fourth-wicket stand in Test history after Australia resumed from their overnight score of 438 for three.
Voges, who resumed on 174, finished unbeaten on 269 after Steven Smith declared the innings closed during the lunch break. He scored 33 fours, no sixes and ended the day with a Test batting average of 76.83, second only to Australian legend Sir Donald Bradman.
Jomel Warrican broke the stand by removing Marsh to finish with three wickets for 158 runs. Marsh, 139 overnight, was caught by Bravo for 182 after sweeping to deep midwicket. West Indies endured a disastrous start to their first innings, losing four wickets in their first session after Josh Hazlewood trapped Kraigg Brathwaite who scored 2 from 26 deliveries.
Nathan Lyon claimed three for 43 including six maidens with his spin attack to undermine the West Indies middle order while Hazlewood picked up two for 43. Rajendra Chandrika struggled against the spin until he drove at Lyon to be caught at first slip for 25.
Then Lyon struck again, twice in one over, as the visitors crashed to 78 for four. He hurled himself to his left to complete a brilliant return catch to remove Marlon Samuels for nine. Five balls later Lyon picked up his third wicket when Jermaine Blackwood played defensively only to see his inside edged taken by Joe Burns fielding close.
Denesh Ramdin was bowled by Hazlewood for eight just after the tea break before Holder joined Bravo in 27 run stand that took Windies past the three figure milestone. Holder, who scored 15, suffered an unfortunate dismissal with his side on 116, refusing to ask for a review when Marais Erasmus gave him lbw to a Peter Siddle ball which replays show was sailing over the bails.
But Bravo stood firm, scoring a half century for the 14th time in his Test career, to lead the resistance and playing a class above his colleagues in an innings in which he also had to endure some rain delays.
He played frequent shots through cover and mid-off, with 15 of his 17 boundaries coming through the offside and appears set to achieve his seventh Test century.
Summary Scores: Australia 1st Innings: 583-4 Declared (114 Overs). Adam Voges 269, Shaun Marsh 182, David Warner 64, Joe Burns 33; Jomel Warrican 28-1-158-3, Shannon Gabriel 10-1-59-1, Jason Holder 24-3-75-0, Kraigg Brathwaite 13-0-52-0.
West Indies 1st Innings: 207-6 (65 Overs). Darren Bravo 94*, Kemar Roach 31*, Rajindra Chandrika 25, Jason Holder* 15; Nathan Lyon 19-6-43-3, Josh Hazlewood 16-4-43-2, Peter Siddle 12-5-22-1, James Pattinson 15-0-68-0.

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