Australia v West Indies: second Test, day three – live

West Indies 51-1 (Brathwaite 11, McKenzie 28) Hazlewood has headed off the field for a quick reprieve and Boland is on to field. Pat Cummins bowls his first over of the day and starts with a short ball that McKenzie ducks under. These batters seem to be finding a lot of room down the ground, but again Labuschagne is there to cut it off before it reaches the boundary. McKenzie won’t give up though and he brings up the 50 for the West Indies with another drive down the ground for four and no one can stop that one.

West Indies 45-1 (Brathwaite 11, McKenzie 22) Just when it looks like another straight drive for four from McKenzie, Labuschagne saves the day with an excellent piece of fielding on the boundary to save the run – it might be the spark Australia needs. Just that three off a tight over from Hazlewood.

West Indies 42-1 (Brathwaite 11, McKenzie 19) Brathwaite starts the over by taking on Starc with a strong straight drive down the ground for four. McKenzie gets into the action soon after with a straight drive of his own that shoots past Starc to the boundary for four. Starc replies with a very full yorker that McKenzie has to work hard to dig out.

West Indies 32-1 (Brathwaite 6, McKenzie 14) Hazlewood resumes and the West Indies bring up a lead of 50. There’s an edge off McKenzie, but luckily for him it falls right into the gap and runs away to the boundary for four. Frustrating for Hazlewood, but it’s great bowling nonetheless.

West Indies 27-1 (Brathwaite 5, McKenzie 10) Starc resumes and starts very tidily. He gives away a front foot no ball late in the over and then a quick single to finish. Phil Withall has got in contact via email with an important weather update from Brisbane.

Afternoon Megan,

I feel for the poor sods bowling at the Gabba today. I’ve just finished a nine hour shift in a kitchen with broken air-conditioning. The humidity here is painful, so much so I feel like if been slowly poached....

Bowler rotation will be paramount for Australia in this session

Cheers

Phil

I’m feeling for you Phil, that sounds very uncomfortable and I’m glad your shift has finished! Let’s hope the Australian bowlers can get through – this has surely got to be one of the benefits of having a fast bowling captain – he’ll know intimately how much of a struggle it is and keep the bowlers rotating.

West Indies 25-1 (Brathwaite 4, McKenzie 10) Hazlewood gets his first full over of the day, with Brathwaite back on strike. He doesn’t quite hit his line to start and there’s a quick single from Brathwaite and a two from McKenzie before Hazlewood fights back with his trademark accuracy to finish with three dots. The last ball comes very close to the stumps after being left by McKenzie.

West Indies 22-1 (Brathwaite 3, McKenzie 8) Starc starts his over with a very nice yorker, but McKenzie manages to get his bat underneath it and sends it to the boundary for four to get off the mark. McKenzie is watchful, after that initial boundary he’s settled and trying to read Starc’s bowling, leaving and blocking while he gets his measure. Finally he’s ready to make his move and he finishes the over with another four.

West Indies 14-1 (Brathwaite 3, McKenzie 0) The first over of the day and Hazlewood picks up where he left off last night. It’s always slightly weird to start a day halfway through an over, gives a bit of a Jumanji vibe – you kind of feel like Hazlewood was trapped in the jungle all night waiting for everyone to start the game again. Just a leg bye off the last three balls of that over, typically tight and accurate from Hazlewood.

Not long now until play gets underway on day three. It’s currently 34.1 degrees in Brisbane, but the ‘feels like’ temperature is up at 38.9, so expect the stifling heat to be affecting the way the match is played today. There were plenty of very wet shirts even after sunset last night, so one can only imagine how they will cope with the heat under the afternoon sun in Brisbane (which, by the way was the first draft of April Sun in Cuba). The players are at the ropes and Captain Pat is giving his inspirational rev up, so let’s get going!

As we know, too much cricket is never enough and the Australian women have got their home series against South Africa underway with a T20 win at Manuka Oval in Canberra earlier today. Captain Alyssa Healy overcame illness to play a key role with the bat, scoring 46 from 28 balls. Beth Mooney top scored for Australia with 72 from 57. With the ball, Darcie Brown and Ellyse Perry took two wickets each, while Georgia Wareham chipped in with one. Australia won by eight wickets with five balls remaining. You can read more about it in our match report.

Did you miss yesterday’s big day of action? Don’t stress, we’ve got you covered. Here’s the over-by-over action, as it happened with Martin Pegan and James Wallace. Or if you’re looking for more of a quick primer, here is the match report.

Hi everyone, welcome to Day Three of this intriguing Test match. My name is Megan and I’ll be guiding you through the first half of today and my wonderful colleague Rob Smyth will pick up later in the day to see you through until stumps.

This Test has been a fascinating contest so far – the Australian bowlers looked to be on top early, but then a West Indies fightback starting with Kavem Hodge and building with Joshua Da Silva and Kevin Sinclair set them up for a solid first innings total of 311. When Australia finally bowled them out, they then went about losing all their wickets and for a while it appeared that 311 was an insurmountable total rather than a decent one. But again there were a few heroes that saved the innings – Usman Khawaja, Alex Carey and Pat Cummins pulled Australia back into contention before declaring 22 runs behind. There was plenty of desperation for a wicket in the final few overs of the day’s play and finally they managed to get Chanderpaul caught behind from the bowling of Josh Hazlewood.

It was a huge day of action and we’re expecting the same today. There’s reportedly some rain coming in Brisbane later tonight and tomorrow, so both teams will be keen to keep things moving. Play gets underway very soon, so let’s get into it!