Mitchell Marsh took four wickets to help Australia seal a 177-run win over the West Indies in the second Test in Melbourne on Tuesday.
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Skipper Steve Smith declared on Australia’s overnight second innings total of 179 for three for a 459-run lead.
West Indies enjoyed by far their best day of the second Test on day three but Australia remained firmly in the box seat at the Melbourne Cricket Ground.
Although trailing by 280 runs, the West Indies bowlers attacked with renewed objective and captain Jason Holder had opener Joe Burns caught in the slips for four.
Holder went for 68 off 86 balls, while Ramdin chipped in with 59 off 90 in his best Test score for two years.
The Caribbean force achieved a 3-0 series win over Australia at home in 1984 without losing a second-innings wicket, something Smith’s men are well placed to achieve here.
Australia won the first Test in Hobart by an innings and 212 runs with the third and final Test taking place in Sydney on 3 January.
But the hosts took 100.3 overs to claim 10 wickets and Smith was wary of overworking his quicks, especially with the SCG Test starting on Sunday.
Chandrika got together with Darren Bravo (21) to put on a 48-run stand for the second wicket to steady the innings.
Reflecting his views on the team’s casual demeanor, Richardson insisted that his players were extremely lively and upbeat, adding that they were working hard to turn things around for themselves, News.com.au reported.
The Australians removed Kraigg Brathwaite in the 12th over for 31 but the tourists’ leading batsman Bravo and opener Chandrika dug in.
Voges, who has yet to be dismissed in the series after scoring an unbeaten 269 in Hobart, was also averaging an astonishing 542 in four Tests against the West Indies this year alone.
Carlos Brathwaite and Jason Holder get in a tangle while celebrating the wicket of David Warner.
Only two other batsmen have scored 1,000 or more Test runs in their debut year: Australia’s Mark Taylor with 1,219 (1989) and Cook with 1,013 (2006).
Jermaine Blackwood was the fifth to depart, adjudged lbw to Lyon for 20.
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From there a trickle of wickets turned into a stream late in the day, with James Pattinson (2 for 36), Lyon (2 for 18) and Peter Siddle (2 for 16) all getting into the action.
