Australia 'happy' even after mixed day with bat

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6 hours ago

Pat Cummins' star-studded bowling attack have been backed to again power Australia out of trouble as the top-order struggles continued in the Caribbean.
Wickets tumbled either side of Alex Carey and Beau Webster's 112-run stand as Australia were dismissed for 286 at stumps on day one of the second Test against the West Indies.
Alzarri Joseph's 4-61 helped restrict the Aussies, who are gunning for an unassailable 2-0 series lead in Grenada.
All but the returning Steve Smith got starts in Australia's top-seven, but it was left to Webster (60) and Carey (63) to restore some order in the second session.
The tourists slumped to 4-93 at lunch, steadied to 5-209 by tea, before losing 5-64 to end their innings.
Once Carey was out to Justin Greaves, playing a soft shot to mid-wicket, Australia were out within 14 overs.
Two rain delays meant there were still up to 20 overs to bowl, but poor light brought about stumps when Nathan Lyon was the final wicket to fall.
Webster said Australia were "pretty happy" with day one.
"We would have loved to get 300-plus, a little bit to blame myself there batting with the tail, we could have stretched that out a little bit," the Tasmania allrounder told the broadcaster after play.
"We've got a really good bowling attack that has bowled with lots of runs on the board, and they've bowled with not many before, so they've done it all.
"Hopefully it gets a little bit tougher to bat on as the game goes on."
Teenage opener Sam Konstas, and his opening partner Usman Khawaja, were rocked by Windies star Shamar Joseph in the first Test.
But after making a positive start in Australia's first Test appearance at St George's, Khawaja and Konstas fell in the space of five balls.
Khawaja, who earlier become the 16th Australian to pass 6000 Test runs, was trapped lbw by Alzarri Joseph and was given out on review for 16.
Konstas soon followed for 25, marking another tough innings in his second stint in the Test team after scores of 3 and 5 in Barbados.
Things took a turn for the worse when Smith (3) was caught at fine leg after attempting to take the attack to Joseph.
The 36-year-old Smith only rejoined the squad last Sunday after dislocating his right little finger during last month's World Test Championship final loss at Lord's.
But returning at No.4 to replace Josh Inglis, the loss of the Australian batting talisman so cheaply was another huge boost to the home team.
Travis Head (29) did well to stop the rot as he tried to maintain the visitors' relatively quick scoring rate.
But Australia were hit with another sucker punch in the last ball before lunch when Cameron Green (26) was out for the fifth-consecutive time behind the wicket since his return from injury.
The West Australian was caught chasing a Jayden Seales delivery by Windies skipper Roston Chase at gully.
Pat Cummins' star-studded bowling attack have been backed to again power Australia out of trouble as the top-order struggles continued in the Caribbean.
Wickets tumbled either side of Alex Carey and Beau Webster's 112-run stand as Australia were dismissed for 286 at stumps on day one of the second Test against the West Indies.
Alzarri Joseph's 4-61 helped restrict the Aussies, who are gunning for an unassailable 2-0 series lead in Grenada.
All but the returning Steve Smith got starts in Australia's top-seven, but it was left to Webster (60) and Carey (63) to restore some order in the second session.
The tourists slumped to 4-93 at lunch, steadied to 5-209 by tea, before losing 5-64 to end their innings.
Once Carey was out to Justin Greaves, playing a soft shot to mid-wicket, Australia were out within 14 overs.
Two rain delays meant there were still up to 20 overs to bowl, but poor light brought about stumps when Nathan Lyon was the final wicket to fall.
Webster said Australia were "pretty happy" with day one.
"We would have loved to get 300-plus, a little bit to blame myself there batting with the tail, we could have stretched that out a little bit," the Tasmania allrounder told the broadcaster after play.
"We've got a really good bowling attack that has bowled with lots of runs on the board, and they've bowled with not many before, so they've done it all.
"Hopefully it gets a little bit tougher to bat on as the game goes on."
Teenage opener Sam Konstas, and his opening partner Usman Khawaja, were rocked by Windies star Shamar Joseph in the first Test.
But after making a positive start in Australia's first Test appearance at St George's, Khawaja and Konstas fell in the space of five balls.
Khawaja, who earlier become the 16th Australian to pass 6000 Test runs, was trapped lbw by Alzarri Joseph and was given out on review for 16.
Konstas soon followed for 25, marking another tough innings in his second stint in the Test team after scores of 3 and 5 in Barbados.
Things took a turn for the worse when Smith (3) was caught at fine leg after attempting to take the attack to Joseph.
The 36-year-old Smith only rejoined the squad last Sunday after dislocating his right little finger during last month's World Test Championship final loss at Lord's.
But returning at No.4 to replace Josh Inglis, the loss of the Australian batting talisman so cheaply was another huge boost to the home team.
Travis Head (29) did well to stop the rot as he tried to maintain the visitors' relatively quick scoring rate.
But Australia were hit with another sucker punch in the last ball before lunch when Cameron Green (26) was out for the fifth-consecutive time behind the wicket since his return from injury.
The West Australian was caught chasing a Jayden Seales delivery by Windies skipper Roston Chase at gully.
Pat Cummins' star-studded bowling attack have been backed to again power Australia out of trouble as the top-order struggles continued in the Caribbean.
Wickets tumbled either side of Alex Carey and Beau Webster's 112-run stand as Australia were dismissed for 286 at stumps on day one of the second Test against the West Indies.
Alzarri Joseph's 4-61 helped restrict the Aussies, who are gunning for an unassailable 2-0 series lead in Grenada.
All but the returning Steve Smith got starts in Australia's top-seven, but it was left to Webster (60) and Carey (63) to restore some order in the second session.
The tourists slumped to 4-93 at lunch, steadied to 5-209 by tea, before losing 5-64 to end their innings.
Once Carey was out to Justin Greaves, playing a soft shot to mid-wicket, Australia were out within 14 overs.
Two rain delays meant there were still up to 20 overs to bowl, but poor light brought about stumps when Nathan Lyon was the final wicket to fall.
Webster said Australia were "pretty happy" with day one.
"We would have loved to get 300-plus, a little bit to blame myself there batting with the tail, we could have stretched that out a little bit," the Tasmania allrounder told the broadcaster after play.
"We've got a really good bowling attack that has bowled with lots of runs on the board, and they've bowled with not many before, so they've done it all.
"Hopefully it gets a little bit tougher to bat on as the game goes on."
Teenage opener Sam Konstas, and his opening partner Usman Khawaja, were rocked by Windies star Shamar Joseph in the first Test.
But after making a positive start in Australia's first Test appearance at St George's, Khawaja and Konstas fell in the space of five balls.
Khawaja, who earlier become the 16th Australian to pass 6000 Test runs, was trapped lbw by Alzarri Joseph and was given out on review for 16.
Konstas soon followed for 25, marking another tough innings in his second stint in the Test team after scores of 3 and 5 in Barbados.
Things took a turn for the worse when Smith (3) was caught at fine leg after attempting to take the attack to Joseph.
The 36-year-old Smith only rejoined the squad last Sunday after dislocating his right little finger during last month's World Test Championship final loss at Lord's.
But returning at No.4 to replace Josh Inglis, the loss of the Australian batting talisman so cheaply was another huge boost to the home team.
Travis Head (29) did well to stop the rot as he tried to maintain the visitors' relatively quick scoring rate.
But Australia were hit with another sucker punch in the last ball before lunch when Cameron Green (26) was out for the fifth-consecutive time behind the wicket since his return from injury.
The West Australian was caught chasing a Jayden Seales delivery by Windies skipper Roston Chase at gully.