West Indies battle hard to stay in contention despite Australias first-innings lead

Mint

17 hours ago

Grenada [West Indies], July 5 (ANI): Australia held a narrow 33-run lead at the end of the first innings after dismissing West Indies for 253, giving them a slight edge in the contest, according to the official website of ICC.
Australia had to then bat six overs late in the day and West Indies quicks made the most of it by removing openers Sam Konstas and Usman Khawaja, leaving the match finely balanced heading into the next day.
Windies skipper Roston Chase was pleased with the final phase of play and how his bowlers capitalised on the tricky evening conditions.
"Over this game and the last game, it's a trend that you're always getting wickets for the new ball," he said in the post-match press conference, as quoted from ICC.
"Something's always happening with the new ball. So we were eager and ready to go out there. And we know that the guys wouldn't want to bat, obviously, in an evening session, a couple of overs to go," he added.
"It's probably the most challenging thing to bat as an opener. So, yeah, we just wanted to put the balls in the right area. And hopefully, we can get some wickets and we got two," he noted.
The new ball sentiment was echoed by Australian pacer Josh Hazlewood, who emphasized that batting early will only become more challenging as the Test match progresses.
"I think any new ball from here on in will be very hard work. I think the wicket probably held together better than I thought it would after looking at it before the game," said Hazlewood.
"But again, the softball doesn't do too much of it. So, I think, yeah, it'll be interesting to see tomorrow how the wicket actually plays and if it sort of goes off a cliff or it just continually slowly gets harder to bat. But I think it definitely won't get easier to bat," he noted.
Josh Hazlewood backed his teammate and young opener Sam Konstas to find form soon despite a string of poor performances. The 19-year-old has managed just 33 runs in four innings and was dismissed for a duck in the current innings.
"You're here for a reason. I guess you just trust that. You're in this position because you're a good player," Hazlewood said in support of Konstas.
"Every time I've bowled to him in the last few months [in the nets], he just keeps getting better and better, it feels like. He got thrown into a tough situation there," he added.
"But we saw in the first innings, he played some really nice shots, put some pressure back on the bowlers. I think he's turning in the right direction. But it's tough at 19," he noted.
In some ways, the attacking intent expected from Konstas was better embodied by West Indies batter Brandon King.
Despite having played only four first-class matches this domestic season with an average of 30.25, King was included in the side to take the attack to the opposition bowlers, and he delivered with a brilliant knock of 75 off 108 balls.
"He's an aggressive batsman. He likes to play his strokes," said skipper Chase.
"When he gets whiffed, he would score. When the ball's up, he would score. So, yeah, we expect Brandon to be the type of player to try to put pressure back onto the bowlers," he noted.
"And he did that today. When the ball was in his areas, he capitalized. And anytime the bowlers were off, he made them pay. So, yeah, that's the kind of innings that we were looking for from Brandon," he said. (ANI)