Rampant Australia close in on second Test triumph

Australia closed in on a 2-0 series sweep as the West Indies, chasing 392 to win, were reeling at 72 for seven at lunch on the fourth day of the second and final Test at Sabina Park on Sunday.

Josh Hazlewood lifted his match haul to seven wickets in removing Darren Bravo and Jermaine Blackwood.

Mitchell Starc, who started the rout by dismissing both openers in the first over of the innings late on the third day, got the ball rolling again for the tourists when he bowled Shane Dowrich off his pads after 19 minutes’ play.

Despite struggling to find his rhythm throughout the match, Mitchell Johnson joined the rampant wicket-takers when he breached the defence of Shai Hope for the sixth wicket of the innings.

Jason Holder, who took on the Australians with the bat and verbally during an entertaining first innings of 82 not out the day before, failed to have any impact the second time around.

With his captain, Denesh Ramdin, offering a measure of resistance at the other end, the promising all-rounder pushed a straightforward catch to Starc at short midwicket off Shane Watson 15 minutes before the interval.

Ramdin, on 19, will resume in the afternoon session with Veersasammy Permaul as the West Indies seek to gain a measure of respectability given that the target is well and truly out of their reach against opponents who appear to be fine-tuning superbly ahead of the Ashes series that follows in July.
Starting the morning at 16 for two, Bravo and Dowrich were kept under a virtual state of siege by the outstanding pace and perseverance of Starc and Hazlewood.

Despite his status as the most experienced West Indies batsman in the match given the unavailability of Marlon Samuels, Bravo struggled to get the ball away.

He eventually fell for just 11 off 49 deliveries as Shaun Marsh held his second low catch of the innings at gully, this time off the bowling of Hazlewood.

Just a few minutes earlier, Starc's unerring accuracy proved too much for Dowrich, the right-hander being bowled off his pads.

No-one in the middle-order was able to resist the Australians, leaving the captain and the tail to somehow save face for a side on the cusp of a humiliating defeat to follow their nine-wicket loss inside three days in the first Test in Dominica.
Source: AFP