ADELAIDE: Scott Boland grabbed three wickets in an over to leave a rattled West Indies on 38-4 and facing a heavy defeat in the second Test here at the Adelaide Oval on Saturday as the world’s top-ranked team zeroed in on another victory to seal the series.

After the visitors were dismissed for 214 on day three of the pink-ball clash in reply to the hosts’ 511-7 declared, Australia called time again at 199-6 in their second innings.

It left the Caribbean side needing 497 to win, but they meekly surrendered under the lights to the line and length of Boland, in the side in place of an injured Pat Cummins.

He removed Kraigg Brathwaite, Shamarh Brooks and Jermaine Blackwood in six sizzling balls without conceding a run — two caught and one lbw — to leave West Indian hopes in tatters. Boland ended with 3-9.

Mitchell Starc then enticed a nick from Tagenarine Chanderpaul (17) with wicket-keeper Alex Carey collecting as they crawled to stumps, still 459 runs adrift, with Devon Thomas and Jason Holder at the crease.

Australia opted not to enforce the follow-on. Instead they batted again with quick runs clearly the intent.

The West Indies had resumed their first innings at 102-4, with Chanderpaul on 47.

But in a horror start, he was run out in the opening over.

Starc in his next over sent Holder packing for a duck, the lanky batsman edging to Carey.

But Phillip and Da Silva put up resistance with a 60-run stand that was finally snapped by off-spinner Nathan Lyon, the most successful bowler ever at the Adelaide Oval after surpassing Shane Warne’s 56 wickets on Friday.

He trapped Da Silva lbw for 23, with Phillip then run out for 43. Lyon dismissed Alzarri Joseph lbw to end with 3-57 before Starc removed Chase for 34.

Scoreboard

AUSTRALIA (1st Innings) 511-7 decl (M. Labuschagne 120, T. Head 114; D.Thomas 2-53, A. Joseph 2-107)

WEST INDIES (1st Innings, overnight 102-4):

K. Brathwaite c Carey b Neser 19

T. Chanderpaul run out 47

S. Brooks c Carey b Neser 8

J. Blackwood c&b Lyon 3

D. Thomas b Green 19

A. Phillip run out 43

J. Holder c Carey b Starc 0

J. Da Silva lbw Lyon 23

R. Chase c Lyon b Starc 34

A. Joseph lbw Lyon 0

M. Mindley not out 11

EXTRAS (B-1, LB-1, NB-5) 7

TOTAL (all out, 69.3 overs) 214

FALL OF WICKETS: 1-35 (Brathwaite), 2-45 (Brooks), 3-50 (Blackwood), 4-90 (Thomas), 5-102 (Chanderpaul), 6-102 (Holder), 7-162 (Da Silva) 8-170 (Phillip), 9-171 (Joseph)

BOWLING: Starc 15.3-4-48-2, Boland 16-4-29-0, Neser 12-3-34-2, Lyon 20-4-57-3, Green 6-0-44-1

AUSTRALIA (2nd Innings):

U. Khawaja c Da Silva b Chase 45

D. Warner b Chase 28

M. Labuschagne c Chase b Phillip 31

S. Smith c Thomas b Joseph 35

T. Head not out 38

C. Green c Brathwaite c Jospeh 5

A. Carey b Joseph 8

EXTRAS (LB-6, NB-1, W-2) 9

TOTAL (for 6 wickets, decl, 31 overs) 199

DID NOT BAT: S. Boland, M. Starc, N. Lyon, M. Neser

FALL OF WICKETS: 1-77 (Warner), 2-78 (Khawaja), 3-136 (Labuschagne), 4-156 (Smith), 5-162 (Green), 6-199 (Carey)

BOWLING: Joseph 7-0-33-3, Holder 8-0-46-0, Phillip 6-0-44-1, Thomas 2-0-13-0, Brathwaite 4-0-32-0, Chase 4-0-25-2

WEST INDIES (2nd Innings):

K. Brathwaite c Carey b Boland 3

T. Chanderpaul c Carey b Starc 17

S. Brooks lbw Boland 0

J. Blackwood c Green b Boland 0

D. Thomas not out 8

J. Holder not out 8

EXTRAS (LB-2) 2

TOTAL (for four wickets, 22 overs) 38

STILL TO BAT: J. Da Silva, R. Chase, A. Joseph, A. Phillip, M. Mindley.

FALL OF WICKETS: 1-15 (Brathwaite), 2-15 (Brooks), 3-15 (Blackwood), 4-21 (Chanderpaul)

BOWLING: Starc 5-2-11-1, Neser 6-2-9-0, Boland 6-3-9-3, Lyon 5-3-7-0.

Published in Dawn, December 11th, 2022