Dyson impressed by West Indies fightback

The West Indies coach John Dyson praised his side's fighting qualities after they hit back from a 119-run first-innings deficit to reduce Australia to 17 for 4 at stumps on the third day. Following an inspirational 118 by Shivnarine Chanderpaul, West Indies finished superbly with Daren Powell and Fidel Edwards picking up two wickets.

"We go out there to fight no matter what the situation of the match," Dyson said. "When we went out to bowl this afternoon we said this is what we need to do, this is how we're going to do it, and the two of them did it beautifully."

Both openers were removed and the extremely important wickets of Ricky Ponting (5) and Michael Hussey (1) were part of the impressive collection. Dyson said a change in the side's attitude had helped their overall performance.

"There is some good team spirit," he said. "They are enjoying their cricket more than they have for a long time and consequently we're seeing them play some good stuff. [Getting four of the Australian top order] was really pleasing, we could have folded but we discussed what we needed to do and the guys just executed it perfectly."

Chanderpaul set up the fightback with his century, which came after he was hit on the back of the head by a Brett Lee bouncer. Dyson said Chanderpaul was being sent for precautionary tests. "I expect him to take full part tomorrow," he said. "We're very confident that the scan would show no major damage."

Lee was one of the first to comfort Chanderpaul after he was hit. "What scared me was he said he couldn't feel his hands or feet," Lee said after play. "You don't want to see anyone get hurt. To his credit he got back up there, and batted beautifully after that."

Dyson said Chanderpaul controlled the innings in a "beautiful fashion", but he was also pleased with the support given by Runako Morton and Dwayne Bravo. "I want some of the less profile players to make contributions as well," he said. "Runako got a terrific 67 and it would have been just fantastic if he had kept going and got a hundred, and the same with Bravo. It was a spectacular little innings to watch, but you just wish it went for another hour and a half."