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Melbourne: Usman Khawaja and Joe Burns’s stand of 258 runs for 2nd wicket led Australia to 345 on Day One of the second Test against West Indies at Melbourne on Saturday.
Australia ended the opening Day with 7 wickets to spare and skipper Steven Smith and Adam Voges on the crease.
West Indies finally had a sigh of relief when Kraigg Brathwaite broke that partnership by dismissing Burns in the 74th over. Brathwaite went outside off, to which Burns pitched down, got an outside edge and Ramdin did not waste time in removing the bails. The stylish opener departed for a superb 230-ball 128, leaving Australia at 287 for 2 with Smith the new batsman in.
Burns and Khawaja together frustrated the Windies as their partnership was a mixture of effortless play which was inclusive of calculated shots and sensible cricket leading to West Indies’ frustration as Jason Holder hardly had answers to the duo. When Burns had reached his first fifty in the 27th over, Khawaja was in his 30s.
Burns had a good day against the off-spin from Jomel Warrican and fortunately Holder handed the ball to Warrican in the 58th over. Not wasting any time, Burns who was then on 97 punched a shortish delivery from Warrican towards the point, picked 3 runs and brought up his second Test century. However, two balls later it was Khawaja raising his bat when West Indies miss-fielded which ensured a single for the former, taking him to his third Test ton.
Ten overs later, West Indies had a consolation wicket in the form of Khawaja, who had done enough damage to push the visitors into trouble, who have shown no fight in the series so far. Jerome Taylor targeting leg side tried a short ball again. In reply to it, Khawaja while trying to play it off hips, found an edge which was caught well by Ramdin behind the wickets.
Taylor was the bowler who had made the first breakthrough for the visitors by dismissing the most dangerous batsman in the Australian squad early: David Warner who showed glimpses of fireworks with five early boundaries did not last long.
He had targeted Roach in the very second over of the day when the latter had come in to bowl his first over. Three consecutive boundaries in the first three balls of the overs which were followed by three runs and Roach was under pressure immediately.
However, Taylor did the job for his skipper and the short ball did the trick for him. While Warner tried to pull it from outside off, the ball got an edge from his higher part of the bat and flew towards short extra cover.
Earlier, West Indies won the toss, and West Indies Captain Holder opted to bat after perceiving the conditions to be bowling-friendly. The visitors made one change in their playing XI, awarding Carlos Brathwaite his maiden Test cap in place of the injured Shannon Gabriel.
Brief scores:
Australia - 3 for 350 (Khawaja 144, Burns 128)
