Brandon King\u2019s 75 showcased an ability to adapt his white-ball prowess to Test cricket, while Jayden Seales\u2019 double-strike exposed Sam Konstas and Usman Khawaja\u2019s familiar frailties
\nJayden Seales played his part in keeping Australia\u2019s openers waiting for 51 minutes, uncertain when exactly their need to run off and pad up would come. Then, when it did, he struck a pair of blows that could have significant short and longer-term consequences.
\nIf West Indies\u2019 last wicket had gone quickly, Australia\u2019s time with the bat would have been closer to an hour-and-a-half. That does not mean events would have transpired any more favourably for them, but what they ended up with was one of those nothing-to-gain scenarios. Neither Sam Konstas nor Usman Khawaja, players at opposite ends of their careers, could make it through to the close.
\nKonstas dragged on for a duck, his third single-figure score of the series, and looked forlorn as he made his way into the dressing room. Khawaja, yet again, was pinned lbw from around the wicket. He insists he doesn\u2019t have a problem with that angle, but the evidence is starting to suggest otherwise.
\nIn the here and now, it has meant for the second time in the series a Test is finely balanced after two days. Australia ahead by 42 on a pitch that is playing tricks, albeit not quite at the rate of Barbados, but that could well change on the third day, and the new ball is especially demanding. \u201cAnything under 200 runs, I think we\u2019ll be able to get that,\u201d West Indies captain Roston Chase said.
\nWith a slightly longer lens, it has left next week\u2019s day-night Test in Jamaica as potentially pivotal in how Australia\u2019s top-order shapes up for the Ashes later in the year. Barring a major reversal from the selectors, Konstas will play at Sabina Park.
\nHe has two innings left to make a score substantial enough to at least quieten the debate around him.
\n\u201cYou\u2019re here for a reason. I guess you just trust that,\u201d Josh Hazlewood said when asked about the challenges of being a young player in Test cricket having made his international debut as a 19-year-old.
\n\u201cYou\u2019re in this position because you\u2019re a good player. Every time I\u2019ve bowled [to] him in the last few months, he just keeps getting better and better, it feels like. He got thrown in a tough situation there. But we saw in the first innings, he played some really nice shots, put some pressure back on the bowlers. I think he\u2019s turning in the right direction. But it\u2019s tough at 19.\u201d
\nMeanwhile, if you go by the selectors\u2019 words, Khawaja\u2019s position is safe. His 47 in the first innings in Barbados was important (although he was dropped on 6) but the pattern of dismissals is hard to ignore.
\nIn that regard, West Indies\u2019 bowlers have been exceptional in keeping the pressure on the duo, albeit in favourable conditions. Plans have come together. In Barbados, Shamar Joseph twice brought the ball back at Konstas to exploit a technical weakness. Now in Grenada, clearly looking to play more positively, he has edged behind driving and dragged on looking to play through the off side.
\n\u201cWe obviously have our plans for each and every batsman,\u201d Chase said. \u201cI guess that\u2019s the area we\u2019re trying to exploit and it\u2019s been working for us so far.\u201d
\nThis West Indies team is beginning a new phase under Chase, named captain after a two-year absence from the side, and coach Daren Sammy. Bowling is clearly their strength, but there were signs with the bat of the broader ideas they are trying to lay out.
\nThe most significant innings belonged to Brandon King who complied a maiden Test fifty that complimented aggression (including three sixes) with solid defence. When the squad for the series was named, Sammy explained that King, a player largely known for his white-ball exploits, had been picked for a specific role.
\nHe had been included on the back of a domestic season where he played just four first-class matches and averaged 30.25. West Indies are trying to find solutions to long-held batting problems; King\u2019s innings was an example of striking the right balance.
\nThe over before lunch, he collected two boundaries off Nathan Lyon. Shortly after the break, he pulled Hazlewood over the leg side for six and later twice took Lyon straight down the ground. But between the aggression, and dashes of his white-ball pedigree, was watchfulness.
\nCarlos Braithwaite, speaking on ESPN\u2019s Around The Wicket, noted how bowlers will often look to bring the ball back into King, but in this innings he played with a very straight bat, the benefits of work he had done with assistant coach Floyd Reifer on his balance.
\n\u201cI think even if you\u2019re an aggressive batsman in Test cricket, you still have to go with the ebbs and flows,\u201d King told ESPN. \u201cThere\u2019s times when bowlers will bowl good spells and you have to battle it out especially on difficult wickets, you can\u2019t attack right through. It\u2019s about recognising those moments as best as possible and when you feel like you\u2019re on top and can get some runs, you continue.\u201d
\nTwice during the second day – at 64 for 3 and 174 for 7 – it looked like things could go wrong for West Indies. But they dug deep to keep themselves in the contest, to such an extent that Australia were the happier side to see the clock tick down as Lyon received treatment for a blow on the arm in what became the final over.
\n\u201cFrom the time you saw him get hit, you know he\u2019s an experienced customer, we knew that that was going to be the last [over],\u201d Chase said with a smile.
\nWest Indies couldn\u2019t stay with Australia on the third day in Barbados. Now they have given themselves another chance.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Brandon King\u2019s 75 showcased an ability to adapt his white-ball prowess to Test cricket, while Jayden Seales\u2019 double-strike exposed Sam Konstas and Usman Khawaja\u2019s familiar frailties Jayden Seales played his part in keeping Australia\u2019s openers waiting for 51 minutes, uncertain when exactly their need to run off and pad up would come. Then, when it […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":488711,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-488697","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-sports"},"yoast_head":"\n