Starc blunders after vital knock

Mitchell Starc did a lot right in his first Test innings in the Caribbean, playing with good sense and freedom when many of his specialist batting team-mates had been hesitant and laboured. His stand with Matthew Wade helped put Australia back into the game after subsiding to a forlorn 169 for 7 on the first day. However Starc's innings ended in a manner he will wish to forget as quickly as possible. Jogging back to the crease at the 'keeper's end after Wade's straight drive had resulted in three runs, Starc seemed unaware that Kraigg Barthwaite's throw was headed in his direction. Carlton Baugh was much the more alert, and removed the bails with Starc's foot - and bat - still in the air. There was as much laughter around Windsor Park at Starc's inattention.

Wade's visits at the crease for most of this series has been as a streetfighter, engaged in run-to-run combat with the West Indies' bowlers and fieldsmen. However he quickly found his range on the second morning, and upped his gears from brisk to warp speed at the fall of Starc's wicket. Wade had 24 from 83 balls when Ben Hilfenhaus joined him, and in a stand of 102 for the ninth wicket - the largest partnership of the match so far - he crashed 82 from 63 deliveries. Three times he crushed sixes, and by the time he narrowly avoided another when Darren Bravo completed an artful catch either side of the boundary rope, Australia had all the momentum.

Ricky Ponting was absent from the early part of the West Indies reply due to a chipped tooth he suffered on the previous evening. While he was returning to the ground from the dentist, Ryan Harris stood at first slip in a reshuffled cordon, Michael Clarke moving to second and Shane Watson to third. Harris fields in the slips for Queensland, but his stint behind the wicket in this Test very nearly ended in a grimace. Brathwaite's edge from Ben Hilfenhaus was straightforward enough, but Harris spilled his first attempt at the catch and was fortunate it bobbled up for a second chance that was gratefully held.

Kieran Powell and Adrian Barath had built a decent foundation following Brathwaite's exit, but in the shadows of tea Nathan Lyon extracted enough turn and bounce to have the latter squeezing a bat pad chance to Ed Cowan at short leg. Instead of plumping for one of his three fast bowlers or the allrounder Shane Watson to exploit the breach at the other end, Clarke then threw the ball to the part-time spin of David Warner. This approach may be described as "you never know your luck with a big leg break", and it was with one such delivery that Warner struck, Darren Bravo falling in similar fashion to Barath when the last ball of the over gripped, turned and bounced. Using a casual bowler to exploit the fall of a wicket was a lateral move, but then Clarke has proven beyond doubt that he is no paint-by-numbers captain.