Scott Boland outdoes himself again, picking up three wickets in an over, finishing Day Three on 3/9. (Image: cricket.com.au)
Australia is in the box seat to knock the West Indies over in four days, following an action-packed Day Three.
Turning points occurred throughout a mostly one-sided day’s play. Wickets fell, moments were missed and runs were scored in quick succession
Here are the moments that mattered on Day Three at the Adelaide Oval.
Starc strikes early
The ball was rolling early for the Australians, as Mitchell Starc knocked Tagenarine Chanderpaul over in the first over of the day. Chanderpaul played defensively and thought there was a potential run, but he was mistaken.
Starc was quick to get on the end of his own bowling and run out the opening batter, who was scrambling to his crease. Thus, starting the calamity of errors in between the wickets.
Nonetheless, Chanderpaul has shown great promise in his short Test career, with scores of 51, 45 and now 47.
In his second over of the day, Starc was at it again with another wicket, having the West Indians dropping like flies. To the new arrival of Jason Holder, Starc enticed the tall Barbadian all-rounder into a drive, yet the out-swing forced him to nick on, straight into the hands of Alex Carey.
With Australia and Starc off to the perfect start, there was potential that Australia could bat again later in the day and force the Windies to chase under the lights.
Calamities between the wickets
Running between the wickets proved to be a hard task, or perhaps communication was. As run-outs galore were on the cards.
First, was Starc’s run out of Tagenarine Chanderpaul, which was the first domino to fall. Setting off the alarm for more chaos to come.
Next to succumb to a runout was Anderson Phillip who was seemingly on a roll. The nightwatchman batted well making his way to 43 runs off 78 balls before quick thinking of the Australians got the better of him.
Phillip’s driving shot was almost caught in the outfield, when dropped, he thought there may have been a run available. His batting partner – Roston Chase at the opposite end didn’t budge, forcing Phillip to turn around.
Meanwhile, the ball had dropped into the dangerous hands of Marnus Labuschagne, who fired the ball to Carey, who finished the job.
Although they were the only two to fall via run out on Day Three, there were close calls in both innings, with the batsmen scraping away with their wicket.
Chase’s super over
Australia batted through the second session of the day after bowling the Windies out. The Aussies held a 297-run lead, but it wasn’t smooth sailing, the minute wickets began to drop.
The Aussies went unscathed for the first 14 overs, steadily going at five runs per over. Then Roston Chase came on to bowl.
With his first delivery of the day, Chase bowled Warner who had made 28 runs off 36 deliveries, consisting of three boundaries.
Once again, Warner had chopped on, and the damage didn’t stop there.
Labuschagne came to the crease and got off the mark with a single off his first delivery. Usman Khawaja was to face his first delivery from Chase.
Yet, Khawaja didn’t fare so well either, as Chase collected his second scalp of the over. A slight nick of the outside edge of Khawaja’s bat was followed up by a brilliant catch by Joshua Da Silva.
Those two wickets ended up being Chase’s only wickets for the innings, as Australia began to enter T20 mode. Chase ended the innings with 2/25 from just four overs, going for an expensive 6.25 runs per over.
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T20 action in the final session
Australia entered T20 mode in its final innings of the two-Test series, as the lead had once again stretched out past 450.
Steve Smith was lucky to be dropped earlier into his innings. Before he smashed multiple boundaries before he had to depart.
Travis Head batted in Travis Head-style, putting the bowler on the back foot. He slogged an unbeaten 38 runs from 27 deliveries, including two fours and two back-to-back sixes.
By the time the West Indies had caught up to the Australian tail, the Aussies declared for the fourth time in the series. The home side smashed 199 runs from just over 30 overs, providing entertainment to the Day Three crowd.
With Australia’s lead at 496, the Windies had to face the new ball under the lights.
Boland’s triple wicket-maiden
A hattrick of wickets, in some fashion, was provided by Scott Boland who previously boasted an insane bowling average.
The fifth over of the West Indies’ final innings was not kind to them. Boland went bananas picking up three wickets in an over.
With his first ball, he picked up the wicket of Kraigg Brathwaite for three runs off 13 deliveries, with some help from Alex Carey who finished the job behind the stumps with a neat catch.
Shamarh Brooks survived two deliveries before he was upended by Boland, this time via LBW. A seemingly perfect delivery from Boland wasn’t even worth reviewing by Brooks, who walked back to the pavilion.
The next man in was Jermaine Blackwood, who lasted one ball more than Brooks. Boland picked up his third of the over, as Cam Green got down low to take a spectacular catch.
Boland sat on figures of 3/0 after his first over. He finished the day with figures of 3/9 from six overs.
In the box seat
Australia is firmly in the box seat to knock over West Indies in four days, with only six more wickets needed for victory.
Ending Day Three on 4/38, the Windies look in really bad shape, still needing 459 for victory. Crazy things have happened on a cricket field, but they need nothing short of a miracle to get them out of this one.
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