Aussies in command on day two

Australia all out 332; Windies trailing by 250, 25/2 at close.

It took a Test debutant to provide some starch for the West Indies spine, on day two of the first Test at the Gabba, in Brisbane.

Marlon Black, making his debut, produced an aggressive display of seam and swing bowling, at pace, to reduce Australia to 158/4 at lunch. The damage was done in course of a seven over spell in the morning session that snared overnight notouts Michael Slater, who reached for a widish away-swinger off the first delivery of the morning and gave an easy take to Sherwin Campbell at slip (Slater 54, Australia 111/2) and night-watchman Andrew Bichel, playing away from his body at an outswinger to put 'keeper Ridley Jacobs in business (Bichel 8, Australia 112/3).

Justin Langer seemed ill at ease against the well-directed pace attack, and the uncertain footwork produced his downfall as Black, by then bowling in a dream, produced a superb awayswinger that took the inner edge through to Jacobs (Langer 3, Australia 117/4).

Australian skipper Steve Waugh and his brother Mark then stitched together an unconvincing, but effective, stand of 41 to take Australia through to lunch. During this period, Umpire Doug Cowie turned down a caught-behind off Steve Waugh off Merwyn Dillon, while Mark Waugh had his share of luck as edges fell short or wide of the slips.

Post lunch, it was Dillon's turn to take up the slack. A well-disguised slower ball had the tentative Mark Waugh playing too early, to give the bowler a nice low take on the follow through (Waugh 24, Australia 179/5). In his very next over, Dillon induced Steve Waugh to slash at one short and wide of off, Sherwin Campbell at second slip producing a superb overhead take to send back the Aussie skipper (Steve Waugh 41, Australia 186/6).

Marlon Black, meanwhile, was not done just yet. Perfectly pitched outswingers had been a feature of his bowling all day, and one such drew Ricky Ponting forward on the drive, the seam movement beating the shot to find the outer edge and give Jacobs his third take of the day (Ponting 20, Australia 220/7).

Having sliced the top and middle off the Australian batting lineup, the West Indies needed to lop off the tail in quick time. In that, however, they were foiled by vice-captain Adam Gilchrist, teaming up with a surprisingly obdurate Brett Lee in a partnership of 61 runs off just 10 overs, that brought about a recovery, extended Australia's lead almost to the 200 mark, and halted the Windies pacemen in their tracks.

Gilchrist played an aggressive innings, clubbing Courtney Walsh for three fours in an over and chancing his arm square of the wicket on the off with several slashing cuts. Lee, for his part, surprised many with the panache of his driving when the Windies bowlers pitched up in an effort to find his edge. One pull too many off Dillon, however, removed Gilchrist when the ball came on to him quicker than he had anticipated, forcing the top edge for Jacobs, caught off balance but recovering well, to race around from behind the sticks to the square leg region to hold (Gilchrist 48 off just 66 balls, Australia 281/8).

Having done almost everything right in the first two sessions, the Windies bowlers then lost the plot entirely in the final one. It was like they could smell, sense, the end of the Australian innings -- and they ended up trying too hard to bring about that end. Where steady line and length seam and swing bowling would have done the trick, the bowlers -- including the hugely experienced Walsh -- went for pace and, in the process, surrendered the control that had characterised their bowling in the morning and afternoon sessions. Brett Lee, hitting hard and clean in an innings that mixed typical tailend shots with some right out of the copybook (his driving through the cover-extracover region in particular deserved high praise), and Stuart McGill, clubbing the ball hard when he could and hanging on for dear life when the ball was on target, kept the bowling at bay and extended the Aussie lead.

Brett Lee brought up his first Test half off just 73 balls -- very valuable runs, and made very quickly, too, off an increasingly frustrated attack. With Australia on 325/8, Stuart McGill tried to club a full length delivery from Walsh back down the track, the ball coming at catchable height to the bowler who grabbed at, then grassed, the chance -- and in the process, prolonged the Windies' agony.

In the very next over, though, with Australia 331/8, Brett Lee after straight driving Marlon Black back over his head for a superb six, attempted to farm the strike with a short single, off a push out on the on. Campbell, racing in from midwicket, hit the sticks with a direct throw to catch McGill out of his ground. McGill (19), though, had more than done his bit in a 9th wicket partnership of 50 runs with Lee.

Glenn McGrath, true to his rep, didn't last long, going too far across to a full length delivery from Walsh, missing the attempted tuck to leg and losing middle stump, Australia ending up on 332 in 114.4 overs -- a lead of exactly 250.

The hero of the Australian innings was easily Brett Lee. Coming in with the score at 220, Lee first held his own in a partnership with Gilchrist, then played the dominant role alongside McGill to put Australia in an invincible position with an innings of 62 off 80 deliveries. For the Windies, Marlon Black with 4/83, and Dillon (3/79) bowled with purpose, but the bowling side was hampered by the lack of backup, and the rare off day that Courtney Walsh (1/78 in 31.4 overs) seemed to be having.

Australia with 16 overs to bowl in the evening, applied the pressure straight off, letting McGrath lose with a field of four slips, a gully and a short square leg. McGrath obliged in the very first over, drawing Sherwin Campbell into pushing at a ball that angled in, then straightened on line around off to find the edge through to Gilchrist, reducing Windies to 0/1.

At the other end, Darren Ganga was distinctly lucky to find edges, to the first two balls that he faced from Brett Lee, eluding the slips. After that dodgy start, though, Ganga settled down, getting nicely behind the line to Lee in particular. The nice thing about his batting is that he is very determinate in his footwork, either fully forward or back, with none of the inbetween stuff that has in recent times got so many of the West Indian batsmen into trouble.

The real focus, though, was Brian Lara coming in at his usual one drop, eschewing the nightwatchman option to resume his clash with Glenn McGrath. It was a clash that didn't last long -- McGrath pitched short, the ball was in the slot to be pulled but it looked like Lara was so keen to dismiss McGrath from his presence that he overhit the shot, slugging too hard and managing only to balloon it high in the air for Gilchrist to walk around to a leg slip position and hold with ease (Lara 4, Windies 10/2). For once, a McGrath delivery didn't deserve the wicket -- but as it stands, this makes 12 times in 15 outings that the Aussie spearhead has taken out the Windies master batsman.

Ganga (not out 8) and Chanderpaul (not out 7) weathered out the storm for what remained of the day. Hemmed in by attacking fields, both batsmen played with circumspection against the pacemen, followed by Stuart McGill and Andrew Bichell, and took Windies in at 25/2 off 13 overs.

The batting side has 225 runs of the deficit still to wipe off -- a daunting task for a lineup that has in recent times refined batting collapses into something of a fine art. Coping with McGrath and Brett Lee is hard enough -- but what should be giving the Windies batsmen a restless night is the fact that Stuart McGill, in course of the two overs he bowled today, used the pronounced rough to make the ball kick and turn in a fashion that a certain Shane Warne would have envied.

Indications are that this Test could end in three days -- to prolong it any further will take far better batsmanship than the Windies have displayed in a long time.

Scoreboard and graphical analysis.

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