BRATHWAITE FALLS INTO LYON’S DEN
SPIN king Nathan Lyon took the prized scalp of centurymaker Kraigg Brathwaite as Australia bagged four wickets on Sunday to zero in on victory in the first Test against the West Indies.
At lunch on day five at Perth Stadium, the visitors were 7-258, still 240 runs behind with two sessions to negotiate.
Skipper Brathwaite, who dragged the Test into a final day with a gutsy overnight 101 after Australia declared their second innings at 2-182 on day four, couldn’t keep the momentum going against Lyon and was bowled for 110.
At the break, Roston Chase was on 13 and Alzarri Joseph 15.
They resumed on 3-192, needing to bat through 90 overs for a draw after gamely resisting an attack missing the injured Pat Cummins for two sessions on Saturday.
Brathwaite said after his day-four exploits that the opening overs would be “very, very crucial” and, in front of a spartan crowd, it was the Aussies who prevailed.
Kyle Mayers, who has been ruled out of any further bowling in the two-Test series with a shoulder strain, added just 10 runs to his overnight nought.
Lyon made the breakthrough, with Mayers getting a thick edge to Steve Smith at slip.
In the process, the 35year-old surpassed India’s Ravichandran Ashwin with 444 wickets to become the eighth-highest wicket-taker in Test history.
Brathwaite was almost chanceless in making his 100, but Lyon, in his 111th Test, finally beat the bat and he was bowled, ending a magnificent innings.
Part-time spinner Travis Head was brought on at the other end and in his first over accounted for Jason Holder for three, with Smith taking a spectacular slip catch.
Australia took the new ball and with it came their pace battery. Josh Hazlewood enticed an outside edge from Joshua Da Silva, which
Usman Khawaja collected at second slip, to leave the West Indies in deep trouble.