Carey and Webster steady Australia after more batting woe in West Indies

• Second Test, day one: Australia win toss and make 286 at stumps

• Tourists had slumped to 93-4; Steve Smith dismissed for three

Same bat time, same bat channel. That’s the feeling for Australia at the moment, as normal programming followed normal programming: top order failure, middle order digging the team out of a hole, a score that shouldn’t be enough against a proper batting side but might well be enough against a vulnerable one. As the second Test against West Indies began on the small island of Grenada on Thursday, a reasonable start of 47 without loss abruptly became 50-3, and 110-5, before finally recovering to 286 all out, on a hot tropical day when occasional rain bursts created short delays, and bad light prevented a late tilt against West Indies’ top order.

Given how rarely the Grenada National Stadium is used, the surface was an unknown quantity. West Indies picked a fifth quick, Australia shrugged and picked the same four bowlers they would choose for St Moritz ice cricket if the chance came up. Dry, patchy, straw coloured, that pitch initially looked the sort where a couple of batters in need of a score could cash in. The pace looked slow, attempted bouncers barely reached the waist. Sam Konstas laid into the first of those he received, Usman Khawaja soon followed with some pulled boundaries of his own. Continue reading...