West Indies batting crumble against rampant Australia

Monday, 28 December 2015 00:00 -     - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

Below-lead-1Adam Voges gets a hug from Steven Smith after reaching his century, Australia v West Indies, 2nd Test, Melbourne, 2nd day, December 27, 2015 - Getty Images

 

Reuters: The West Indies batsmen crumbled late on Sunday to leave their team teetering at 91-6 and staring at another humiliating defeat at the close of day two of the second test against Australia.

The dramatic collapse in the final session left the tourists 261 runs short of making the hosts bat again and came after centuries to Australia captain Steven Smith and Adam Voges drove the hosts to a mammoth first innings declaration at 551-3.

Darren Bravo was 13 not out, with debutant paceman Carlos Brathwaite on three, and their team in absolute disarray.

Pacemen James Pattinson and Peter Siddle grabbed two wickets apiece along with spinner Nathan Lyon as the Caribbeans’ hopes of staving off a 2-0 series defeat appeared shot.

West Indies had managed to prise only three wickets from nearly five sessions of cricket, but Australia’s bowlers managed six in the final two hours.

Smith, the ICC Cricketer of the Year, earlier raised his 13th test century and walked off unbeaten on 134 after declaring before tea.

His untroubled 177-ball innings was his sixth test ton for the year and put him on top of the leading run-scorers for 2015 ahead of England skipper Alastair Cook.

Voges was also unbeaten, his 106 off 166 balls the Western Australian’s fourth test century since his debut at the age of 35 against the same opponents on tour in Roseau.

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