1st Test
Day 1 (AUS 438/3)
At 10am on a greenish pitch, Jason Holder lost the toss but didn't mind that Steven Smith chose to bat. "Hopefully we can exploit the conditions as best as possible and get into their middle order," he said. By 12.30pm they had done so; Australia were 3 for 121 and wobbling. It turned out getting through that middle order was the hard part, for by 6pm Adam Voges and Shaun Marsh had cruised to centuries, had a triple-hundred partnership, and Australia were 3 for 438.
The only consolation for Holder was that he hadn't sent Australia in, though he said he would have done so if given the chance. Apart from one crowded hour when they claimed all three of their wickets - the hour leading up to lunch - West Indies were lacklustre. And such was their awful over rate that Holder declined the new ball late in the day so his part-time spinners could race through a few overs. It was quantity, not quality, and they still fell one over short.
Perhaps only in outer space could Voges and Marsh have been surrounded by less pressure than they were by the close of play. Still, their contributions should not be under-valued. They came together before lunch with Australia in danger of being embarrassed. But Voges especially turned that on its head in the second session, moving to a run-a-ball century, his third in Test cricket. He had solid support from Marsh, who scored slower but also raised his third Test hundred.
At stumps, Voges was on 174 and Marsh had 139, and their partnership of 317 was Australia's third-highest of all time against West Indies, for any wicket. Australia's run rate had hovered above five an over nearly all day, and only as they blocked out the final few overs before stumps did it dip down into the high fours. Boundaries flowed for most of the day as West Indies served up half-volley after half-volley. Rarely has the term "attack" been more inapt for a Test bowling group.
The 50th boundary of the day came when Denesh Ramdin failed to grasp a Kemar Roach delivery that dipped on him in the 79th over of the day and it ran away for four byes. It rather summed up a day of utter disappointment for West Indies, who also faced the prospect of possibly being without Shannon Gabriel, the only fast bowler to take a wicket. Gabriel bowled only 10 overs for the day before leaving the field to have scans on a troublesome left ankle.
Amongst it all, Voges and Marsh piled on the runs. Voges made the West Indians pay for too often straying onto his stumps, scoring heavily through the leg side. He moved briskly to a 55-ball half-century and turned that into a 100-ball hundred, his second Test ton against West Indies, who by stumps had dismissed him only once in Test cricket for an aggregate of 341 runs. It was his second century of the home summer after he posted 119 against New Zealand in Perth.
Marsh spent the second half of the Perth Test wondering if he would be the beneficiary of Usman Khawaja's hamstring injury and on his recall helped Australia to victory in Adelaide with 49 in the chase. But he knew that he needed a big score to justify the faith of the selectors and he could hardly have asked for a better opportunity; he faced two dot balls before lunch then came out after the break to face Jomel Warrican with three men back on the boundary.
Marsh was content to let Voges drive the partnership but he certainly played his part. His cover-driving especially was exquisite, and more than half of his 12 boundaries came through that region. His century came with a pull through leg for four off Roach. He had taken 50 more balls than Voges to reach triple figures but it mattered little. Finally, more than four years after he scored a century on Test debut in Sri Lanka, Marsh had made a Test hundred at home.
He had come to the crease with West Indies apparently having the momentum, having got rid of Joe Burns and then Australia's two best batsmen, Steven Smith and David Warner. The first hour had brought 75 runs, 64 of which came in boundaries, as the bowlers struggled to find the right lengths against Burns and Warner, and when Gabriel nipped one back in to bowl Burns for 33 it was completely against the run of play.
Warrican, chosen for his second Test ahead of the more established legspinner Devendra Bishoo, claimed his first wicket when he slowed his pace and turned one enough to catch the edge of Smith's bat; he was well taken at slip by Jermaine Blackwood for 10. But Warner remained at the crease and was a significant danger, having raced to a 40-ball half-century that featured 10 boundaries.
However, in the last over before lunch Warner tickled a catch down leg side off Warrican and was caught by Ramdin for 64 off 61 balls. Ramdin had earlier put down Warner on 4 when he dived low to his left in an attempt to snaffle an edge off the bowling of Roach. Holder may have thought that when Ramdin rectified the error by taking Warner before lunch, West Indies might run through Australia. In fact, the middle order was about to exploit them.
Day 2
Australia 583/4d
West Indies 207/6 (65 ov)
West Indies trail by 376 runs with 4 wickets remaining in the 1st innings
First, there is Don Bradman and Bill Ponsford. Then comes Adam Voges and Shaun Marsh. Such is the list of all-time Test record partnerships for Australia after Voges and Marsh put on 449 against an insipid West Indies in Hobart. It was the highest fourth-wicket stand in Test history, and the sixth-biggest of the near 70,000 Test partnerships that have ever been compiled. By only two runs did the 451-run Bradman-Ponsford stand against England at The Oval in 1934 survive in first place among Australian partnerships.
Those are the facts, but here is the truth: it would have been criminally misleading for Voges and Marsh to have moved into top spot. In terms of size it was Australia's second-greatest partnership, in terms of quality it was not even close. That is no slight on Voges and Marsh but on the class of the bowling. In Adelaide last month their fourth-innings stand was 400 runs lighter, but arguably more meaningful as they held off the swing of Trent Boult and Doug Bracewell to set up victory.
Jerome Taylor, Kemar Roach, Jason Holder - they have all delivered at Test level before. Here they went through the motions. And to paraphrase Dorothy Parker on Katharine Hepburn, it was the gamut of motions from A to B. Amble in with little intent, bowl with no apparent plan, walk back to the mark, repeat. Too many half-volleys, too many on the pads, too many boundary balls. Too many fielders back, too many easy singles. Too many runs, too few efforts to stop them.
For most of Australia's innings this Test had the intensity of a tour game. By stumps little had changed as the West Indies batting order largely collapsed, but at least there was one significant positive for them. Darren Bravo was on the verge of a century. Bravo had moved to 94 and had enjoyed solid support from Kemar Roach, who was on 31, and their partnership had moved along to 91 and was frustrating Steven Smith and his men.
West Indies were still 177 runs away from preventing the follow-on, but it was something. They had, after all, been 6 for 116 when Roach joined Bravo. Nathan Lyon spun out the middle order, Josh Hazlewood and Peter Siddle claimed wickets, but Bravo stood firm. More than that, he played with class, and his innings was all the more impressive for the frequent short rain delays that might have affected his focus.
He was exquisite through cover and mid-off, 15 of his 17 boundaries coming through the off side, and he looked a class above his batting colleagues, who had all struggled greatly. Bravo had one moment of luck on 78 when he edged Hazlewood between Voges and Smith in the slips, but otherwise his only mistake was in not convincing his partner Holder to ask for a review when Marais Erasmus gave him lbw to a Peter Siddle ball that was sailing well over the bails.
That Bravo and Roach had started to show some fight was encouraging for West Indies, for the innings had started miserably. It took Australia four sessions to lose four wickets in their innings; it took West Indies less than one. Hazlewood made the first breakthrough when he had Kraigg Brathwaite trapped lbw for a watchful 2 from 26 deliveries, and then it was all about Lyon.
Rajendra Chandrika had struggled against the spin and when he drove at Lyon on 25 he was taken by a juggling Smith at first slip. A better catch came when Marlon Samuels, on 9, drove on the up and Lyon hurled himself into the air to his left and completed a brilliant return take. It was something of a statement from the man who had become the first Australian offspinner to play 50 Tests.
Five balls later Lyon had a third, when Jermaine Blackwood played defensively with hard hands and saw his inside edge bob up off his leg to be taken by Joe Burns at bat-pad. Four wickets had arrived before tea and soon after the break, Denesh Ramdin followed when he played back to Hazlewood and failed to get the bat down to a ball that stayed a touch low, and he was bowled for 8. When Holder fell it was 6 for 116, a pitiful reply to Australia's 4 for 583 declared.
It seemed as though nothing could stop Marsh and Voges as they moved Australia's total along at nearly a run a ball in the first session. Lacklustre as West Indies were, Voges and Marsh still had to concentrate and avoid mistakes, and they did so perfectly. It could also not be forgotten that Australia's situation had been shaky when they came together on day one.
But almost from the first ball of their stand on Thursday, the pressure on them was near non-existent. On Friday, Voges brought up his double-century from his 266th delivery and in the next over Marsh moved to his 150 from his 227th ball. Both milestones came with singles to deep point; singles were on offer all around the ground all through their partnership.
Voges moved to the highest Test score at Bellerive Oval and his 250 came up from 269 deliveries. It was not until the 110th over that West Indies used a review, when Jomel Warrican thought he had found Marsh's inside edge, but replays revealed the ball had brushed his pad on the way through to Ramdin. Warrican eventually broke the stand when Marsh slog swept to deep midwicket and was out for 182.
Voges finished unbeaten on 269 after Smith declared the innings closed during the lunch break. He ended the day with a Test batting average of 76.83, second only to Bradman on Australia's all-time list of players with a minimum of 10 innings. And as well as Voges had batted, that only highlighted further that this was a day on which statistics told only a small part of the story.
Day 3
Australia 583/4d
West Indies 223 & 148
Australia won by an innings and 212 runs
Hapless, hopeless and helpless, West Indies collapsed to their second-heaviest defeat in Tests against Australia as James Pattinson marked his return with a five-wicket haul that destroyed the top order. Australia batted for the first four sessions of the match and lost only four wickets; West Indies batted less than four sessions and lost all their wickets, for both innings, crushed by an innings and 212 runs before tea on the third afternoon.
In the end the only real interest was whether Kraigg Brathwaite could reach a second-innings century and carry his bat, but even that proved a step too far. His fighting effort came to halt when he was bowled by Josh Hazlewood for 94, the wicket that confirmed the result as the West Indian No.11 Shannon Gabriel was unable to bat due to a foot injury. Brathwaite had scored 63.51% of West Indies' 148, the highest percentage ever by a West Indian in a Test innings.
Darren Bravo was similarly a stand-out in the first innings, completing his 108 out of 223 on the third morning. Bravo achieved the rare feat of being dismissed twice in a session, caught trying for late runs in the first innings and then bowled by Pattinson cheaply in the second, part of a procession of wickets before lunch. Michael Clarke took until the last Test of his career to enforce the follow on; Steven Smith had no hesitation in doing it in his fourth Test as full-time captain.
His bowlers were fresh enough, having taken only five overs to wrap up the West Indies' first innings in the morning. At least Bravo had time to reach a well-deserved hundred. He started the day on 94 and brought up his century - the seventh of his Test career - in the first over of play, with a pair of boundaries driven through the off side off Peter Siddle. But the celebration was short-lived as Hazlewood struck twice in the next over.
Kemar Roach edged behind for 31, ending a 99-run stand, and Jerome Taylor chopped on for a golden duck next ball, and while there was no hat-trick for Hazlewood, there was little other consolation for West Indies. Bravo was the last man out, caught off the bowling of Siddle, and West Indies still trailed by 360 runs. Smith enforced the follow-on, but little did he know the second innings wouldn't even last 40 overs.
Pattinson bowled well and found some movement, and Hazlewood was typically accurate, but there was little fight from West Indies. Rajendra Chandrika edged to slip off Pattinson for the third duck of his four-innings Test career, Bravo was caught with leaden feet and chopped on, Marlon Samuels saw one fly off the shoulder of his bat to gully for 3, and Jermaine Blackwood completed a pair for the match when he was bowled by a Pattinson ball that stayed low.
It was a horrific start, and was only to get worse when Denesh Ramdin edged Mitchell Marsh's first delivery to gully and was caught for 4. West Indies were 5 for 30 and in serious danger of being dismissed for less than 100 in a Test innings for the first time in 11 years. But the captain and vice-captain steadied things somewhat, Jason Holder joining Brathwaite for a 30-run partnership.
Pattinson ended the stand and brought up his five-for by having Holder caught-behind down leg side for 17, and Hazlewood finished the job with the last three wickets. He bounced out Roach, who was caught-behind trying to hook for 3, had Taylor caught at mid-off for 12 and then denied Brathwaite his hundred when he was bowled for 94 off 122 deliveries.
Twelve wickets had fallen in less than two sessions on the third day as West Indies capitulated. Now they face a fortnight's wait until the second Test, on Boxing Day at the MCG. In the meantime, they have only one tour game scheduled, a two-day affair in Geelong next weekend, while many of Australia's players will turn out in the first few days of BBL competition. And as Test matches go, this one was a good advertisement for the much more competitive BBL.
2nd Test
Day 1
Australia 345/3 (90.0 ov)
West Indies
West Indies won the toss and elected to field
Joe Burns and Usman Khawaja adjusted from Twenty20 to Test match gears with all the smoothness of a well calibrated sports car, as Australia's top order put their stamp on Boxing Day despite a well grassed pitch and a slightly improved West Indies.
Both Burns and Khawaja had turned out for their BBL clubs in the gap between Tests, but it was the unsigned and rested David Warner who let adrenaline get the better of him in an early flurry that ended with his wicket after Jason Holder sent the Australians in to bat.
The vast majority of a day delayed by an hour due to considerable morning rain was then taken up by a union that reaped 258 runs and centuries to Burns then Khawaja, who joyfully passed their milestones in the space of three deliveries after tea. Burns was ultimately out stumped at the hands of Kraigg Brathwaite, and Khawaja glanced Jerome Taylor into Denesh Ramdin's gloves before the close.
Their exits should not detract from the ruthlessness shown by Burns and Khawaja, two members of the Boxing Day selection triangle that ultimately cost Shaun Marsh his place. Burns showed excellent judgment around off stump while finding the boundary 17 times. Khawaja carried on with the rich vein of form and confidence that began at the Gabba against New Zealand: few batsmen in the world are capable of making the game look quite as simple as he does at his best.
Australia's batsmen were aided by another disappointingly muted display from the West Indies bowlers, who conceded runs at a lesser rate than they had done in Hobart but were nonetheless unable to create sustained pressure on the batsmen. The debutant Carlos Brathwaite was at one point reduced to bowling well outside off stump to a 7-2 field, a gambit the umpire Marais Erasmus opposed by calling a pair of disapproving wides.
The tourists' fielding was also indifferent - one Khawaja flick through the leg side was chased so languidly by Jerome Taylor that the batsmen might easily have run five. Later Marlon Samuels, who had juggled Warner's skier, turfed a ball Khawaja struck more or less straight to him at cover. Melbourne's smallest Boxing Day crowd since 1999 expressed appropriate disbelief.
Holder had expressed hope that his pacemen would be able to exploit the moisture evident in the pitch after rain delayed the start by an hour. But they were stunned by Warner's early salvo, striking five boundaries in the second and third overs of the day as 27 were heaped in the first three.
Having stated his desire to make a century on Boxing Day - the MCG is the only Australian Test ground where he is yet to pass three figures - Warner was flushed with adrenaline, and overreached to his 12th ball when he tried to pull Taylor over midwicket and skied to Samuels at cover.
This episode had been manic, and Khawaja's arrival signalled something more orthodox as he tried to find his rhythm after playing only one BBL match for the Sydney Thunder on his way back to fitness following a hamstring strain. Not quite as initially fluent as he had been when making hundreds in Brisbane and Perth, Khawaja slowly found his range, while Burns looked safe at the other end having been retained in a decision that showed the selectors' faith in him.
The scoring rate built up once more as lunch neared, with Carlos Brathwaite, included for the injured Shannon Gabriel, going for 11 runs in his first two overs. Kemar Roach extracted one edge from Burns as the interval near, but it fell short of the slips cordon. Few such moments could be found in the afternoon, as Khawaja and Burns accumulated steadily while the MCG crowd swelled nearer to the gathering of around 50,000 hoped for by the MCC. Even so, 53,389 was the smallest Boxing Day attendance in at least a decade.
They were witness to some attractive batting but also an assortment of bowling and fielding that veered from mediocre to awful. Holder's control of proceedings was loose at times, his fields invariably defensive due to inconsistent bowling, and his choices of bowlers also odd - having exploited some moisture on the first morning in Hobart to gain useful spin, Jomel Warrican was unused this time until the day's 42nd over, by which time there was precious little purchase for his slow left-arm.
The evening session's highlight was undoubtedly Burns and Khawaja passing three figures in the same Warrican over. It was otherwise something of a slog as the batsmen accumulated soundly while Holder tried with some success to limit the flow of boundaries. Khawaja was to reach or clear the rope seven times in his 144, a testament to his strike rotation but also the freely available diet of singles.
There was a hint of tiredness in the dismissals of both Burns, advancing at Brathwaite but misjudging a ball fired flatter and wider, and a leg-glancing Khawaja. Their graft had left the match and series firmly in Australia's lap, with the captain Steven Smith and the Hobart double centurion Adam Voges there at the close.
Day 2
Australia 551/3d
West Indies 91/6 (43.0 ov)
West Indies trail by 460 runs with 4 wickets remaining in the 1st innings
Towards the end of Australia's latest gargantuan first innings in a summer of batting gluttony, the West Indies opener Rajendra Chandrika was struck a painful blow on the wrist by an Adam Voges stroke. Quickly to his aid was the hosts' team doctor Peter Brukner. Chandrika recovered and later batted; it was the only moment's mercy offered by the Australians to their hapless quarry all day.
More representative was the bowling of Peter Siddle, James Pattinson and Nathan Lyon, all of whom harried their opponents relentlessly and were rewarded with regular victims. Lyon's loop, Pattinson's reverse swing and Siddle's accuracy made for a highly complementary attack, augmented by the stingy Josh Hazlewood.
By the close they had reduced the West Indies to a forlorn 6 for 89 in response to 551, leaving open the possibility of another follow on, another Australian innings victory and another three-day Test match. Even if the shorter turnaround to the New Year's Test in Sydney stops Steven Smith from making such a call, not even the most staunchly patriotic Australian supporter can take too much joy from ritual executions of such lopsided brutality.
A second day gathering of 40,416 was the sort of figure both Cricket Australia and the MCC would have been happy about. Nevertheless it was very apparent how on each day the crowds thinned after tea, as though they could not put themselves through the recurring spectacle of one of cricket's domineers beating up on an opponent in dreadful disrepair. For all the rhetoric of Curtly Ambrose and the good intentions of Jason Holder, there is very little within the power of this touring team to avoid problems that have built up over decades of neglect, infighting and divided loyalties.
The first half of day two had Voges and Smith batting without risk or any apparent danger. Their undefeated stand of 223 followed up the strong work of Joe Burns and Usman Khawaja on Boxing Day, and contributed to the statistical mountain being built by an Australian side growing daily under the leadership of their new captain.
Smith showed evidence that a rest had helped his sore knee in compiling his sixth hundred for 2015, while Voges continued on the merry way he began at Bellerive Oval in the first Test. He has now made 375 runs in the series without being dismissed, while his career average against the West Indies has reached a scarcely credible 542.
Though Smith's century was marked by a subdued celebration, but Voges was far more animated in marking his fourth hundred of a debut Test year in which he has passed 1000 runs in a mere 12 matches. Only Sir Donald Bradman, Neil Harvey and Sid Barnes managed to get there faster.
Together they ensured Australia's bowlers had plenty of runs to defend once again, and after Chandrika and Kraigg Brathwaite resisted briefly they made steady then increasingly swift progress through the thin remnants of what was once a galaxy of Caribbean batting riches.
Brathwaite's hands were too low and firm to prevent a catch squeezed to short leg when Lyon found bounce and spin. Chandrika was too generous in allowing Pattinson's in-ducker to strike him in front without offering a shot and then optimistically reviewing the decision. Marlon Samuels' wretched tour then gained another stanza when he was pinned seemingly in front by Pattinson for a duck and declined to review a ball that EagleEye had passing over the stumps.
Very nearly yorked first ball, Jermain Blackwood played a few smart strokes before he was reprieved when the inevitably grey of television replays meant Burns' apparent clean catch at square leg was overruled by the third umpire Ian Gould. The injustice of that decision was not to linger; Blackwood bunting a return catch to Lyon and Denesh Ramdin flicking a clearer catch to Burns before Siddle snaked a straightening ball around Holder's dead bat to make it six wickets in the final session.
If Voges and Smith did not pile up runs at quite the same rate seen in Hobart, their security at the crease was seemingly unaffected by more patient spells from several West Indian bowlers. Both batsmen gave up edges, Smith an inside edge to fine leg when attempting to force Kemar Roach through the off side, and Voges skewing Carlos Brathwaite past slips 15 minutes before lunch.
The MCG surface was flat and easy paced for batting when Smith and Voges resumed, intent upon stretching the hosts' tally into an intimidating region for the West Indies. There were attractive strokes to be viewed by a crowd that grew steadily, but precious little tension between bat and ball.
A reminder of the vast gap between the teams arrived when Australia knocked off their 1000th run for the series, all at a cost of just seven wickets. The scoreboard flashed a reminder that both sides have still got two DRS referrals in their pockets. It is perhaps the only area in which Australia and the West Indies have ever had parity in the series.
Day 3
Australia 551/3d & 179/3 (32.0 ov)
West Indies 271
Australia lead by 459 runs with 7 wickets remaining
Australia are still highly likely to win this match, but they must now work much harder to do so than had once seemed likely. A muted third day at the MCG was defined by the dead bat of Darren Bravo, and the uncharacteristic generosity of several Australian cricketers who let standards slip in the face of an outmatched opponent.
Helped in large part by the debutant Carlos Brathwaite, maker of a daring and dicey 59, Bravo was able to shepherd the West Indies tail from their overnight 6 for 91 to an unexpectedly sizeable 271 - in all they added 188, Bravo 81 of these in more than five hours of bloody-minded defiance. Importantly, he kept the hosts in the field for more than 100 overs, dissuading their captain Steven Smith from sending the visitors in again despite a big lead.
A major factor in the West Indies' prolonged first innings was a pair of no-balls by James Pattinson, which twice reprieved Brathwaite before lunch. Nathan Lyon and Pattinson shared eight wickets between them, but the Victorian fast man was undisciplined in landing his foot beyond the crease line, no-balled when he burst through Brathwaite on 13, and again when the allrounder hooked to fine leg to be caught on 50. Wordlessly, but unmistakably, Smith expressed his disapproval.
There was to be a similar level of profligacy in the evening as David Warner and Usman Khawaja squandered starts with shots too clever by half after Joe Burns had perished to the new ball. Their dismissals did at least allow for the underemployed Mitchell Marsh to walk to the middle and accompany a typically efficient Smith to stumps.
When the day began, Australia still had thoughts of a quick four wickets, a follow-on and a hat-trick of Test matches over inside three days after Adelaide Oval's day-nighter and the mismatch at Bellerive. Pattinson commenced with a still reversing ball and was soon celebrating the exit of Brathwaite, who used his height to good effect when not aiming ambitious blows more at home in the BBL.
However replays showed Pattinson had overstepped comfortably, and the good fortune allowed Brathwaite to carry on while Bravo stuck to the crease like a limpet. More expansive in Hobart when cracking a first innings hundred, Bravo had been coaxed to drag a drive onto his stumps in the second, and this time seemed determined simply to bat for as long as possible.
He allowed himself a few more liberties as Brathwaite became increasingly secure, and another Pattinson no-ball prevented a look at the tail before the end of the session. It was only on the stroke of lunch that the hosts were able to strike, Lyon teasing out a return catch from Brathwaite while working around the wicket.
Even so, the partnership served to keep the West Indian innings alive for long enough to leave Smith questioning the wisdom of enforcing the follow-on in search of a rapid innings victory. He was to discount the possibility entirely once Bravo kept the remainder of the tail in the field for all but a few minutes of the afternoon session, with Kemar Roach, Jerome Taylor and Jomel Warrican all contributing runs and time at the crease.
Lyon and Pattinson bowled well throughout, the spinner rewarded for his flight, loop and spin while the paceman followed up well from his five wicket haul in the second innings of the Hobart Test. However he will curse the overstepping before lunch that has served primarily to see this match into a fourth day.
Granted the chance to get back out into the field, the West Indians made a bright start. Holder shared the new ball with Taylor and moved it both ways off the seam and in the air. Burns was confounded by the one-two punch of a nip-backer that struck his back thigh and then a tantalising away swinger that he was drawn into edging to second slip.
Warner, so eager to make a hundred in this match, was on the way to doing so before trying to glide a Brathwaite short ball that merited a little more respect. Holder claimed the catch, and then took a tumble as the debutant's exuberantly awkward celebration did not quite calculate the angle and height of the catcher - cause for laughter all round.
Khawaja was silkiness personified in cruising to another half-century, and looked for all the world like no one could contain him. Yet it was this very feeling of security that contributed to an overambitious paddle attempt that drew a touch behind to Denesh Ramdin. Like Khawaja, Australia still have some work to do.
Day 4
Australia 551/3d & 179/3d
West Indies 271 & 282 (88.3 ov)
Australia won by 177 runs
Slowly but surely, Australia worked their way through the West Indies for a victory that kept the Frank Worrell Trophy in their possession for 20 unbroken years, stretching back to the triumph of Mark Taylor's team in the Caribbean in 1995.
Having fought hard over the final two days of the Test, West Indies lost their final four wickets for 32 in ten overs, allowing Steven Smith's team to enjoy success inside four days after they declared before play began to set Jason Holder's men a target of 460.
With the benefit of more time in Australia, the visitors put up a better show than they managed in Hobart, though the hosts were never in any danger of losing the match. It was more a question of time, and Holder was despondent at a checked drive to mid-off that opened up the tail to the second new ball with a handful of overs remaining in the day.
Mitchell Marsh claimed that wicket, and it was his fast-medium that did the majority of the damage for Smith. At times touching speeds in excess of 140kph and getting the ball to climb off the seam, Marsh vindicated the national selectors' commitment to keeping an allrounder in their XI despite a logjam further up the batting order that forced the omission of his brother Shaun after a record stand with Adam Voges in Hobart.
Nathan Lyon and James Pattinson also contributed strongly, the offspinner's seven wickets earning him the Man-of-the-Match garlands on a surface that remained good for batting throughout. Lyon's final victim was the debutant Carlos Brathwaite, who ended a memorable first Test appearance by having his off-bail fall after it was grazed ever so gently by an offbreak.
C Brathwaite, Darren Bravo, Holder and Denesh Ramdin all had something to take from the match, which showed that this young West Indian side may not be beyond all help. They have been awfully short of experience and confidence in recent months, but there were signs of promise over the past two days that will be cause for optimism in the mind of the coach Phil Simmons.
Kraigg Brathwaite and Rajendra Chandrika made a reasonable start, trying to score wherever possible and seeing off the opening spells of Pattinson and Josh Hazlewood.
However, Lyon has been a dominant performer for Australia in this match, and in his third over he coaxed K Brathwaite into an ill-advised cut at a ball too straight and too full for the shot. Duly cramped, K Brathwaite skewed a chance to slip, where Smith held it sharply.
Following his first innings resistance, Bravo began with similar intent to frustrate Australia, and with Chandrika also obstinate, the Australians were unable to go on to further exploit Lyon's initial break. Fifteen minutes before lunch, Pattinson thought he had Chandrika lbw, and after Marais Erasmus declined the appeal, the Australians shaped to review the decision.
However they lingered in their deliberations and were overruled from referring by Erasmus on the basis that they had taken more than the allotted 15 seconds to decide. This was perhaps a blessing in disguise, as replays showed a shuffling Chandrika had been struck outside the line of the off stump.
Moments before lunch, Hazlewood procured an edge from Bravo, but replays showed that Hazlewood had none of his front foot behind the line and a no-ball was ultimately called. Hazlewood's transgression followed two by Pattinson on day three that also robbed Australia of wickets.
The assistant coach Craig McDermott doubtlessly will be keeping a close watch on the crease line in training for the third Test in Sydney. Peter Siddle was more disciplined when he repeated the trick soon after the resumption, ending Bravo's occupation after facing a total of 265 balls in the match.
Pattinson followed up by defeating Chandrika, pinned lbw in front of the stumps and consigned to walking off the ground after his review showed the ball to be clipping the bails. Marsh's impact was then felt when he found a way through Marlon Samuels, who was beaten on length to edge behind.
Holder and Ramdin then combined for a stand of 100 that looked to be taking the Test into a final day - untold riches given how the match seemed destined to finish on day three after a first innings batting collapse. However, Marsh's persistence was to be rewarded with an edge from Ramdin, and the end followed swiftly. Australia deservedly celebrated two decades of dominance, but they had at least been made to work for it.
3rd Test
Day 1
West Indies 207/6 (75.0 ov)
Australia
West Indies won the toss and elected to bat
For the first time in the series, West Indies batted on the opening morning of a Test. For the second time in the series, Kraigg Brathwaite fell just short of a century. And for the third time in the series, Australia went to stumps on day one on top, this time with West Indies at 6 for 207. Nathan Lyon led the attack with two wickets on a challenging day for the West Indies batsmen, who had to sit through two lengthy rain delays.
Despite the wet weather Australia had no trouble with over rates: Lyon sent down 32 and Steve O'Keefe raced through 14, meaning that only 15 were lost to the rain. Australia had opted for two specialist spinners at the SCG for the first time in ten years and the evidence on day one suggested it was a wise move, as there was plenty of turn and bounce, and between them they picked up three wickets.
As has been the case throughout the series, West Indies relied too heavily on one batsman. This time it was not Darren Bravo but Brathwaite, who was a picture of concentration in compiling 85 around meal breaks and rain delays. He had fallen for 94 in the second innings in Hobart and had the chance to push on for a hundred this time, but instead tried to dab a cut past slip off Lyon and succeeded only in gloving to Steven Smith.
It was a disappointing end for Brathwaite, who earlier had put on 91 for the second wicket with Bravo, the first time in the series West Indies had found a half-century stand between two of their top six. They came together after opener Shai Hope, in for the injured Rajendra Chandrika, edged behind for 9 off a Josh Hazlewood delivery that nipped away off the seam.
When Brathwaite and Bravo lifted West Indies to 1 for 92 at lunch it seemed the batsmen were backing up Jason Holder's decision to bat first after calling correctly at the toss. However, soon after lunch Bravo fell for 33, having added just one to his score, when he hooked a quick, short delivery from James Pattinson to Usman Khawaja, who ran in from deep square leg to take the chance low to the ground.
West Indies had lost their most in-form scorer and now had their most out-of-form batsman, Marlon Samuels, at the crease with Brathwaite. It did not end well. Samuels continued his wretched tour by contriving to run himself out, pushing a Lyon delivery straight to point and calling for a single that wasn't there; both he and Brathwaite stopped mid-pitch, Brathwaite fell over in his desperate attempt to turn around, and the throw to Samuels' end found him well short.
To add to the frustration, it turned out to be the last ball before a long rain delay. When play finally resumed, Jermaine Blackwood managed 10 before he misjudged Lyon and left a ball that turned in and kissed the very top of off stump, the type of delivery that has been an impressive part of Lyon's armoury this year. At 4 for 131, West Indies were in trouble.
It became 5 for 158 when Brathwaite departed after a second rain delay, and 6 for 159 when Jason Holder fell for 1. O'Keefe, playing the second Test of his career, claimed his first home Test wicket when Holder squirted one off the inside edge that was brilliantly snapped up at short leg by Joe Burns, who snared the ball low down in his right hand, proving that he has improved significantly under the helmet since the start of the summer.
Australia were dreaming of a quick finish as the evening grew near, but the West Indies lower order has shown some batting fight in this series, and Carlos Brathwaite was keen to rage against the dying of the light. His second ball was lofted down the ground for six off O'Keefe, and he ended up plundering two sixes and four fours off O'Keefe as he moved to an unbeaten 35 from 35 balls at stumps. Denesh Ramdin was on 23, having fought through 72 deliveries.
Day 2
West Indies 248/7 (86.2 ov)
Australia
West Indies won the toss and elected to bat
West Indies' hopes of avoiding a 3-0 series result were boosted significantly on the second day in Sydney, where only 68 deliveries were bowled due to persistent rain. Further rain is expected on the third day and a draw now looms as the most likely outcome, with West Indies still batting in their first innings on 7 for 248 after Carlos Brathwaite completed an entertaining 69 during the short periods of play possible on day two.
It was a day of frustration for players, spectators and match officials. The start of play was delayed by 10 minutes after morning rain, and when Nathan Lyon was finally able to take the ball he sent down only three deliveries before the rain returned to the ground and the players to the dressing rooms. An 80-minute delay was followed by 3.3 overs of spin before further rain ended the session early.
The weather cleared enough for play to resume after lunch and the 7.2 overs that were then bowled at least provided the crowd with some entertainment as Brathwaite went after James Pattinson with the new ball. He brought up his half-century from exactly 50 balls with the first of two consecutive fours off Pattinson, and became the first West Indian since Darren Bravo in 2010 to score a fifty in each of his first two Tests.
Brathwaite upped the ante in Pattinson's next over, lifting him over extra cover for six and two balls later clipping another six over square leg, with 15 runs coming from the over after Denesh Ramdin started it with a three. But Pattinson had his revenge in his third over of the day when he produced an excellent fullish outswinger that beat Brathwaite, who was bowled for 69 from 71 deliveries.
It was the end of an 87-run partnership between Brathwaite and Ramdin, who quietly moved along to 30 not out from his 103 balls. He had just struck two runs off Josh Hazlewood, whose previous three overs in the day had all been maidens, when the afternoon rain arrived and set in. Play was eventually abandoned for the day with Ramdin on 30 and Kemar Roach yet to score, West Indies having added 41 to their overnight total.
Day 3 (Abandoned without a ball being bowled)
West Indies 248/7 (86.2 ov)
Australia
West Indies won the toss and elected to bat
A draw in the third Test between Australia and West Indies at the SCG appears almost inevitable after the third day's play was abandoned without a ball being bowled. Persistent rain made it impossible for the players to take the field at all, making it just the third time in the past 20 years that a full day's play had been lost in a Test in Australia.
Only 68 balls had been bowled on the second day due to the wet weather, and rain also affected the first day's play. The forecast for the fourth day is for a shower or two, but there is unlikely to be enough rain to significantly affect the chances of play. West Indies will resume in their first innings at 7 for 248, having not yet faced a full day's allotment of overs.
Day 4 (abandoned without a ball being bowled)
West Indies 248/7 (86.2 ov)
Australia
West Indies won the toss and elected to bat
For the first time in more than 25 years, two consecutive Test days were washed out in Australia without a ball being bowled, as heavy rain continued in Sydney on Wednesday. Only 68 balls had been bowled on the second day before days three and four were completely abandoned, leading Cricket Australia to declare free entry for day five, in addition to refunds for tickets on the second, third and fourth days.
The forecast for the fifth day is for a possible shower, although only two millimetres of rain were expected by the Bureau of Meteorology, which would likely mean play was possible if the outfield was in a fit enough state. Australia will lift the Frank Worrell Trophy at the end of day five regardless of what happens on the field, having earned a 2-0 lead from their wins in Hobart and Melbourne.
Only 86.2 overs had been bowled in the entire match by the end of day four, with West Indies still 7 for 248 in their first innings. Last time two straight days were washed out in Australia was also in Sydney, against Pakistan in 1989-90. The first two days of that Test were rained out without a ball being bowled, which led to a sixth day being added, though further rain throughout the Test meant a draw was inevitable.
Day 5
West Indies 330
Australia 176/2d
Match drawn
After two days of constant rain in Sydney, David Warner produced a torrent of runs on the fifth day to entertain the faithful with the quickest Test century ever recorded at the SCG. A draw was the inevitable result of a Test in which only 150.1 overs were bowled due to wet weather, but Warner's 82-ball hundred at least ensured there was good reason to watch the final day's play.
Cricket Australia had thrown open the gates and declared free entry, and the local fans hoped they would see the Australians bat early in the day. Only 68 balls had been possible on day two, and days three and four had been completely washed out, meaning that the only chance of a result would have been if the captains agreed to double-declarations on the final day, but that was not to be.
West Indies began the morning at 7 for 248 and batted on, Denesh Ramdin completing a second consecutive Test half-century before they were dismissed for 330 on the stroke of lunch. And so, Australia's first innings of the Test began after lunch on day five, with Warner and Joe Burns hoping to get whatever they could out of the day's batting; another century opening stand was a good result.
Burns played the support role while Warner plundered boundaries; he took 16 off one Jomel Warrican over that featured the only two sixes of the innings. The first of those sixes, slapped over midwicket, brought Warner his half-century from 42 deliveries, and he kept his brisk run-rate up as the session wore on. The partnership ended at 100 when Burns lofted a catch to mid-on off Warrican on 26.
Mitchell Marsh was bumped up to No.3 to give him some valuable time at the crease; he has spent hour upon hour in this series waiting in the dressing rooms with his pads on as the top-order batsmen have repeatedly built huge partnerships. But while he defended and tried to get his eye in, the runs kept flowing from Warner, who seemed to be on target to score a century in a session.
However, more rain arrived ten minutes before the scheduled tea break and Warner left the ground unbeaten on 90, hoping the weather would clear and he would have the chance after tea to score his 16th Test hundred. It did, and he did; the milestone came up with an under-edged sweep for three off Warrican, and it was Warner's first Test century against West Indies.
It was also the fastest of all time at the SCG, his 82-ball effort beating the 84-ball century scored by Matthew Hayden against Zimbabwe back in 2003-04. Warrican picked up a second wicket when Marsh edged to slip on 21 and Peter Nevill, who had not batted in the series, was promoted to No.4, finishing unbeaten on 7 alongside Warner on 122 from 103 deliveries when the captains agreed to call off play.
Earlier, Ramdin had started the day on 30 and brought up his fifty from his 139th delivery, but the chance to go on and score a Test hundred ended when he edged Steve O'Keefe and was sharply taken by Steven Smith at slip. In the next over, Nathan Lyon had Kemar Roach caught by Burns at short leg for 15 and West Indies were 9 for 300.
However, a 30-run last-wicket stand frustrated the Australians, with Warrican finishing on 21 not out when Jerome Taylor slapped a catch to point off O'Keefe, who finished with 3 for 63 in his first Test on home soil. Such was the lack of play that O'Keefe and Lyon between them bowled nearly half the overs completed in the Test.
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