3 June, 2008

A five-wicket haul from Brett Lee has Australia in the driving seat at stumps on day four of the second Test against West Indies.

The match had been meandering towards a draw with overnight pair Shivnarine Chanderpaul and Dwayne Bravo carefully negotiating the first hour before Lee broke the game open with three wickets in four balls.

That sparked a total collapse as West Indies lost its final six wickets inside an hour to be dismissed for 352 and still trailing by 127 runs, despite a century from Chanderpaul.

At stumps, the tourists reached 6-244 in reply to hold a 371-run advantage with one day remaining.

Opener Phil Jaques - joined by Mike Hussey (40) at the head of the order in place of the injured Simon Katich - was the top-scorer for Australia with 76.

Andrew Symonds is 43 not out and will resume the innings on Wednesday morning (AEST) if captain Ricky Ponting deems it necessary.

West Indies began the day knowing it needed victory in order to keep the series alive.

Overnight pair Chanderpaul and Bravo looked untroubled for the best part of the morning session to extend their stand for the fifth wicket to 132 before Bravo became the first of Lee's victims.

The all-rounder had reached 45 when he was adjudged caught behind down the leg side by umpire Russell Tiffin, although replays suggested the ball had deflected off his thigh guard.

Lee struck again the next delivery when late swing with the old ball trapped Denesh Ramdin on the crease, although again the decision looked dubious with the ball hitting the wicketkeeper outside the line of off stump.

New batsman Darren Sammy successfully negotiated the hat-trick ball and then in the next over Chanderpaul brought up his 19th Test century with a clubbed blow through the leg side from Symonds.

But Sammy was soon on his way when Lee was the beneficiary of another dubious LBW decision, although what was certain was the Australia paceman was getting the old ball to move considerably to fool the batsman.

It took his own piece of craft to remove Jerome Taylor, for a quick-fire 20 - the tail-ender misjudged a slower ball and was bowled.

Lee then took his fifth wicket of the morning trapping Daren Powell lbw without scoring, before Mitchell Johnson completed the innings when he had Fidel Edwards caught behind to become the fourth batsman of the innings to fall without scoring.

That left Chanderpaul unbeaten on 107, his fourth Test century against the Australians.

The tourists began their reply at the start of the afternoon session with Hussey opening the batting in place of Katich, who was still recovering from a blow he took while posting a century in the opening innings.

And Hussey enjoyed a steady partnership with Jaques as Australia looked to build a substantial lead.

The pair put on 74 for the opening wicket before Bravo interrupted the flow with a delivery which Hussey edged to wicket-keeper Ramdin.

Ponting contributed 38 before he was dismissed LBW by Taylor and vice-captin Michael Clarke followed his skipper back to the sheds when he was caught short of his ground on 10.

Brad Haddin scored seven before Edwards grabbed his first victim and the whippy quick removed Lee (four) with what proved the final ball of the day.

West Indies v, Australia, Jamaica 2nd Test, Day 4
Australia 1st innings, 479 (7 wickets; 136 overs)
West Indies 1st innings
D Smith c Symonds b Johnson 16
X Marshall lbw b Clarke 53
R Sarwan c Clarke b MacGill 65
R Morton c Katich b Clarke 2
S Chanderpaul not out 107
D Bravo c Haddin b Lee 45
D Ramdin lbw b Lee 0
D Sammy lbw b Lee 0
J Taylor b Lee 20
D Powell lbw b Lee 0
F Edwards c Haddin b Johnson 0
Extras (b 17, lb 13, w 2, nb 12) 44
Total (all out; 107 overs) 352
FoW: 1-55 (Smith, 9.2 ov), 2-103 (Marshall, 26.1 ov), 3-105 (Morton, 26.6 ov), 4-182 (Sarwan, 53.6 ov), 5-314 (Bravo, 95.4 ov), 6-314 (Ramdin, 95.5 ov), 7-318 (Sammy, 97.1 ov), 8-341 (Taylor, 103.2 ov), 9-341 (Powell, 103.4 ov), 10-352 (Edwards, 106.6 ov)

Bowling
B Lee 21-7-59-5
M Johnson 24-5-72-2
S Clark 14-0-39-0
S MacGill 21-1-107-1
M Clarke 15-7-20-2
A Symonds 12-3-25-0

Australia 2nd innings
Jaques c Ramdin b Taylor 76
Hussey c Ramdin b Bravo 40
Ponting lbw b Taylor 38
Clarke run out (Chanderpaul) 10
Symonds not out 43
Haddin lbw b Edwards 7
Lee c Ramdin b Edwards 4
Extras (b 8, lb 6, w 3, nb 9) 26
Total 244 (6 wickets; 61.5 overs)
FoW: 1-74 (Hussey, 27.6 ov), 2-163 (Jaques, 45.2 ov), 3-178 (Ponting, 47.3 ov), 4-186 (Clarke, 50.6 ov), 5-222 (Haddin, 57.1 ov), 6-244 (Lee, 61.5 ov)

Bowling
Powell 13-3-47-0
Edwards 7.5-1-28-2
Taylor 12-0-33-2
Sammy 12-1-45-0
Bravo 14-1-59-1
Sarwan 3-0-18-0