The Jamaican floodlights have done little to ease Australia’s top order concerns ahead of a home Ashes summer but their hopes of sweeping the Frank Worrell Trophy series remain intact after a scintillating bowling display on day two at Sabina Park.
A defiant unbeaten 42 by No.3 Cameron Green took Australia to 6-99 by the close of play in Kingston with an overall lead of 181 after paceman Scott Boland (3-34) justified his inclusion for the third Test to lead the tourists’ demolition of West Indies for 143 in their first innings.
The right-armer wrapped up another poor Windies batting effort on cusp of the dinner break to hand his side a sizeable 82-run lead after Australia managed 225 on the opening day, but it left a daunting task for openers Usman Khawaja and Sam Konstas when play resumed under lights 40 minutes later.
While there are few parallels between facing a pink Dukes ball in the Caribbean night and the first Ashes Test at Perth Stadium in late November, the pair would have been hoping for significant returns when they began the second phase of their opening union at the beginning of the series.
In a series already featuring the lowest combined batting average for two teams in almost a decade (minimum three Tests), the floodlights have added another challenge for Australia’s batters, losing 13 of their 16 wickets during the night session across the first two days.
While batting across the three Caribbean Tests have been as difficult as ever in recent memory, which is reflected in the series batting average dropping below 20, the confidence boosting score Konstas has been seeking since his Test recall in Barbados continues to elude him.
The teenage opener was first to depart for a duck as Australia’s second innings began under lights, fending a back of a length delivery to gully as he fell to Shamar Joseph (2-26) for the third time this tour.
Joseph also claimed veteran left-hander Khawaja (14) for the third time in the series as he chopped on going after a full and wide delivery, Steve Smith (5) also bowled by a ball that rebounded off his inside edge, then pad and back onto the stumps.
Travis Head (16) and Alex Carey (0) were both caught in the slips as the pink ball caused havoc for the second night in a row, the latter copping a nasty blow to the helmet first ball from Alzarri Joseph (3-19) before throwing caution to the wind and edging the towering paceman to Brandon King.
Beau Webster (13) tried to counterattack before his off stump was uprooted by Alzarri Joseph, with Cummins (5no) joining forces with Green to negotiate the final 45 minutes without further loss.
Australia will no doubt be aiming to eke out a lead beyond 200 when play resumes in daylight on Monday afternoon when batting survival appears easier, even if that hasn’t necessarily equated to freer scoring.
Meanwhile, West Indies will be targeting four quick wickets to give their own misfiring top order the best chance to get set before the lights take over as they dream of another pink-ball upset over the No.1 ranked Test side.
Boland, recalled for the third Test in place of star off-spinner Nathan Lyon, was earlier the pick of the bowlers with three wickets as the Aussies’ four-man pace attack routed West Indies for their lowest first innings score of the series.
The Victorian paceman bowled with impeccable control across his 13.1 overs on return to the Test side, landing more than 91 per cent of his balls on a good length as he sent down a total of 11 overs of dot balls (83.5 per cent).
His only blemish was perhaps four front foot no balls, one of which resulted in a wicket being overturned, but replays suggested Chase would have survived anyway with the double noise heard by umpire Nitin Menon the ball hitting the front and back pad.
Boland’s first wicket helped swing the momentum of the Windies innings in the middle session as top scorer John Campbell (36) was out lbw shouldering arms, while his second was a peach to castle the dangerous Shai Hope (23) as it decked back sharply to clip his off bail.
Day two at Sabina Park had begun in similar pedestrian fashion to the first with scoring again proving most difficult with the pitch at its slowest during the mid-afternoon hours.
West Indies advanced their score to 3-73 at the tea break – the first interval in this day-night Test – adding 57 runs for the loss of two wickets to start the day, which proved a similar scoring rate to Australia’s 1-50 in the first session on the opening day.
Josh Hazlewood (2-32) secured his first wicket of the innings by the barest of margins with King adjudged lbw to a delivery ball tracking showed clipping the top of the corner of leg stump bail.
But that was enough for it to remain umpire’s call and uphold Adrian Holdstock’s on-field call following King’s review and send the hosts top scorer of the series so far on his way for 14.
There was no such doubt over Cummins’ first wicket of the match amid a probing examination of his opposite number, finding Windies skipper Chase’s (18) glove as he tried to drop his hands to avoid playing a rising delivery but only succeeded in ballooning a simple catch to Khawaja at first slip.
That brought the unusual sight of both West Indies openers at the crease with their side already three down, with neither Mikyle Louis (knee) nor John Campbell (external blow) able to bat on day one after being sent to hospital for scans following fielding mishaps.
With both cleared to bat on Sunday, Campbell rode his luck with a couple of boundaries through the cordon, the left-hander also gifted five runs amid a period of sloppiness by the tourists with Hazlewood’s wayward throw sneaking under Alex Carey’s glove and away to the rope through the slips where no one was backing up.
Carey also spilled two catching opportunities, one diving across in front of first slip off Justin Greaves after Mitchell Starc (1-32) found the edge after the tea break, the other moving to his left after Boland found the inside of Hope’s flashing blade.
Boland made amends for the second drop the very next delivery as he knocked back the Windies wicketkeeper’s stumps with a beauty after Louis (7) – recalled in place of 100-game veteran Kraigg Brathwaite – lost his cool and his own off stump when he tried to launch Hazlewood into the adjacent Emmett Park behind the famed Kingston venue.
Konstas’ terrific throw from the boundary caught Greaves (18) short as he attempted a horror third run as Cummins (2-24) and Boland wrapped up the innings before the game again sped up under lights.
Qantas Tour of the West Indies
First Test: Australia won by 159 runs
Second Test: Australia won by 133 runs
Third Test: July 12-16, Kingston, Jamaica (4.30am AEST)
Australia Test squad: Pat Cummins (c), Sean Abbott, Scott Boland, Alex Carey, Cameron Green, Josh Hazlewood, Travis Head, Josh Inglis, Usman Khawaja, Sam Konstas, Matt Kuhnemann, Marnus Labuschagne, Nathan Lyon, Steve Smith, Mitchell Starc, Beau Webster
West Indies Test squad: Roston Chase (c), Jomel Warrican (vc), Kevlon Anderson, Kraigg Brathwaite, John Campbell, Keacy Carty, Justin Greaves, Shai Hope, Tevin Imlach, Alzarri Joseph, Shamar Joseph, Brandon King, Johann Layne, Mikyle Louis, Anderson Phillip, Jayden Seales
First T20I: July 20, Kingston, Jamaica (July 21, 11am AEST)
Second T20I: July 22, Kingston, Jamaica (July 23, 11am AEST)
Third T20I: July 25, Basseterre, St Kitts (July 26, 9am AEST)
Fourth T20I: July 26, Basseterre, St Kitts (July 27, 9am AEST)
Fifth T20I: July 28, Basseterre, St Kitts (July 29, 9am AEST)
West Indies T20 squad: TBC
Australia’s T20 squad: Mitchell Marsh (c), Sean Abbott, Xavier Bartlett, Cooper Connolly, Tim David, Ben Dwarshius, Nathan Ellis, Jake Fraser-McGurk, Cameron Green, Aaron Hardie, Josh Inglis, Matt Kuhnemann, Glenn Maxwell, Mitch Owen, Matthew Short, Adam Zampa