Resuming on 35 together with his staff on 207 for six, the tall, muscular Bajan confirmed why he has been one of many few bright spots for West Indies on what has in any other case been a depressing tour.
Advertisement
However, Bravo’s dismissal, top-edging James Pattinson, triggered a collapse that saw his side slip to 159 for six.
The Windies opener refused to offer his opinion on whether Samuels – who has failed to score above 20 in his last nine Test innings – was a valued member of the side when prompted, instead exclusively playing down the run-out.
Steve OKeefe, one of the two recognised spinners along with Nathan Lyon in an Australian team for the first time in a decade in a home Test, said there was still time for Australia to get a result.
“We are basically down to one spinner with Bishoo being unavailable for this Test match”.
Australia retained the Frank Worrell Trophy with a 177-run win in Melbourne earlier this week, and will go for the 3-0 sweep when the third Test begins in Sydney on Sunday.
Samuels pushed a Lyon delivery to point and set off for a run. Brathwaite retreated to his end and Samuels was stranded by Hazlewood’s throw to the striker’s end.
I just went out there and tried to play my game, thankfully I got from 30-odd overnight to 69, Brathwaite said.
Australia bowled 75 overs on the first day, but only 11.2 overs on day two as the start of the storm cell hovering for days over the Australian east coast moved in. It was his second consecutive half-century after scoring 59 in his debut test at Melbourne last week – and became the first West Indian since Darren Bravo in 2010 to score 50s in each of his first two tests.
On 115 for three at the tea break, West Indies looked to be flourishing afterward when Jermaine Blackwood pulled Lyon and drove Pattinson for boundaries in moving to ten.
Australia won the first test in Hobart by an innings and 212 runs inside three days, but a similarly short match in Sydney looks unlikely – if only because of the weather.
“I’m lucky enough to have a great captain and a good mate behind the stumps”.
Advertisement
AUSTRALIA – *S Smith, D Warner, J Burns, U Khawaja, A Voges, M Marsh, +P Nevill, S O’Keefe, J Pattinson, J Hazlewood, N Lyon.
