West Indies vs. Australia, 2nd Test, Day 2: Highlights, Scorecard, Report

Steven Smith's 199 from 361 balls gave Australia (399) a solid lead after Day 2 of their second Test against West Indies (143/8), a superb showing from the batsman on a pitch that greatly favoured the bowlers.

Smith built on his ton from Day 1 at Sabina Park in Kingston, Jamaica, while the rest of his Baggy Greens team-mates struggled. The Aussie bowlers turned the table on Windies during their innings, however, and the team should feel comfortable with their 256-run lead.

As you can see in this highlight of Jason Holder bowling Mitchell Starc, courtesy of fanatix, the pitch at Sabine Park was dry and bumpy, and the spinners had a field day going at the batsmen:

David Warner was caught for a duck as West Indies started the day with a bang, and Shaun Marsh could only add 11 runs from 15 balls before he too was dismissed. The hosts' start was furious, but amid the onslaught, Smith continued his fine knock.

Michael Clarke (47 from 107) and Adam Voges (37 from 81) made solid contributions, but the innings were truly saved by Smith, who kept finding the boundary with ease.

			Runs	Minutes	Balls	4s	6s
Bowler	Overs	Maidens	Runs	Wickets
Warner	c Hope	b Taylor	0	3	3	0	0
S Marsh	lbw	b Taylor	11	28	15	1	0
Smith	lbw	b Taylor	199	514	361	21	2
Clarke	c Ramdin	b Holder	47	141	107	4	2
Voges	c Ramdin	b Taylor	37	104	81	5	1
Watson		b Taylor	25	88	73	4	0
Haddin		b Taylor	22	30	23	3	1
Johnson	c Darren Bravo	b Roach	5	17	16	1	0
Starc		b Holder	6	29	28	0	0
Hazlewood	c Blackwood	b Permaul	24	67	58	2	0
Lyon	not out		5	3	2	1	0
Extras	6nb 0w 5b 7lb		18
Total	all out (126.5 ovs)		399
Taylor	25.0	10	47	6
Roach	25.0	2	113	1
Holder	22.0	3	64	2
Permaul	34.5	7	124	1
K Brathwaite	19.0	2	39	0
Blackwood	1.0	1	0	0

As shared by ESPN Cricinfo, the 26-year-old has a tendency to come up big during the first innings of a Test:

Smith came agonisingly close to a double century, given leg before wicket on a beautiful delivery from Jerome Taylor to leave him with 199 runs.

Speaking of Taylor, the West Indies pace bowler performed admirably for the second straight day, finishing the first innings with six wickets while giving up just 47 runs in 25 overs.

Former cricketer Glenn McGrath was impressed with his fine showing, noting those were the best numbers he has ever put up in a Test innings:

Unfortunately for Taylor, his team-mates fell a little short. Kraigg Brathwaite gave up just 39 runs in 19 overs but failed to grab a wicket, while Jason Holder and Veerasammy Permaul were knocked around by the Baggy Greens.

The Aussies had a great start with the ball, getting rid of Rajendra Chandrika for a duck. ESPN Cricinfo wondered whether the call should have stood, however, as Starc appeared to step on the line during the delivery:

Brathwaite soon followed, managing just four runs from 27 balls, and the chase seemed dangerously close to falling apart.

			Runs	Minutes	Balls	4s	6s
Bowler	Overs	Maidens	Runs	Wickets
K Brathwaite		b Lyon	4	34	27	1	0
Chandrika	c Haddin	b Starc	0	12	7	0	0
Darren Bravo	lbw	b Lyon	14	36	23	2	0
Dowrich	c Haddin	b Hazlewood	13	50	31	2	0
Hope	c Haddin	b Lyon	26	77	63	4	0
Blackwood	c Warner	b Hazlewood	51	115	80	7	1
Ramdin	lbw	b Hazlewood	8	41	24	1	0
Holder	not out		13	32	24	2	0
Permaul	c Haddin	b Johnson	0	6	4	0	0
Extras	1nb 1w 6b 1lb 5pen		14
Total	for 8 (47.0 ovs)		143
Starc	12.0	2	33	1
Hazlewood	11.0	7	15	3
Lyon	12.0	4	35	3
Johnson	10.0	1	38	1
Watson	2.0	0	10	0

Darren Bravo and Shane Dowrich both failed to add significant runs to the chase, and during the bowling onslaught, Nathan Lyon became Australia's most prolific off-spinner in Test history by grabbing his 142nd wicket, via cricket.com.au:

Jermaine Blackwood was finally able to put some runs on the board, and toward the end of the innings, the Windies started finding a rhythm, which allowed them to close the gap a bit ahead of the next session.

He made the mistake of throwing his bat at a ball that was nowhere near the stumps, however, allowing Warner to make an easy catch in the penultimate over. This means West Indies will enter Day 3 with just two wickets remaining and a massive mountain to climb.

ESPN Cricinfo wonders whether this Test will end much sooner than anticipated:

The Baggy Greens should hold on for an easy win over West Indies in this second Test, but they won't be overly excited with the way their batsmen failed to support Smith on Friday. Opener Warner recently sat down with ESPN Cricinfo's Daniel Brettig to discuss the changes he has made in approaching the game, and perhaps he should think about returning to his old ways just a bit:

"

My approach the last couple of weeks, I sat down and had a think about what lies ahead for me and how much cricket there is coming up over the next 18 to 24 months. For me it's about conserving my energy. In the everyday world, everyone knows that sitting down and having a conversation with someone can be draining and energy-zapping.

"

West Indies have been hit hard by the injury bug, and even at full health, few would have predicted a win over Australia. Taylor's performance with the ball was a bright spot in an otherwise poor performance from the side, and after such a low score in the first innings, the batsmen will have to turn it up significantly to have any hope of catching the Aussies.

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