AP, Sydney :
Persistent rain restricted play to 11.2 overs on the second day of the third Test at the Sydney Cricket Ground as the West Indies progressed to 248-7 at stumps on a damp, soggy Monday against Australia.
Resuming from their overnight score of 207-6, West Indies added 41 runs off 68 balls for the loss of Carlos Brathwaite up to the tea break. No play was possible in the last session.
Brathwaite was the only wicket to fall on the second day, with seamer James Pattinson bowling the allrounder for 69 off 71 balls, including four sixes and seven boundaries. “I’m not satisfied that I didn’t carry on to get three figures or firstly to see out the day but still happy in a sense that I got my highest Test score,” Brathwaite said.
At stumps, Denesh Ramdin was unbeaten on 30 and Kemar Roach was yet to score. Only three balls have been bowled by Nathan Lyon at the start of the day before rain forced the players off the field for nearly 80 minutes.
Play then resumed for only eight minutes, with the West Indies scoring nine runs off 21 balls, before light showers forced a stoppage through to the lunch break.
Brathwaite wasted little time after lunch in reaching his half-century, off 50 balls, with a cut for four off Pattinson. It was his second consecutive half-century after scoring 59 in his debut Test at Melbourne last week – and became the first West Indian since Darren Bravo in 2010 to score 50s in each of his first two Tests.
He followed up with two sixes off Pattinson’s next over, including a towering hit into the stands over cover.
Pattinson (2-67) got some revenge in his next over bowling Brathwaite for 69. “I was very, very upset,” Brathwaite said. “Not on the dismissal because I think it was a good (delivery), even though I didn’t think I handled it as well as I could have. But I was upset that once again I got a start and couldn’t carry on.”
Play on day two was eventually abandoned at 4:35 p.m. local time (0535 GMT) with showers still falling and the crowd of 14,266 was offered refunds on their tickets due to less than 25 overs being played.
Rain is also forecast for Tuesday, eating more time into Australia’s efforts to force a result and complete a series clean sweep.
“It is annoying and it’s hard for the guys to continually switch off and get back up,” said spinner Steve O’Keefe, who is playing his first Test in Australia after making his debut against Pakistan in Dubai in 2014. “I think it’s easier if you are batting, you can come out and start again.
“But very rarely do you play games of cricket where the conditions are perfect and game plans go exactly to plan.”
