Shivnarine Chanderpaul fell agonisingly short of a century before Australian spinner Nathan Lyon destroyed the West Indian lower order to hand the momentum back to the visitors on the third day of the second Test at Queen's Park in Port of Spain.
Chanderpaul was dismissed for 94 but his gritty performance counted for little at stumps after the fragile West Indian batting crumbled and the home side was reduced to 9 for 252, still 59 runs behind Australia's first innings of 311.
Lyon (5 for 68) triggered the collapse when he captured five wickets in a devastating spell late in the final session on an increasingly difficult pitch.
Chanderpaul, who scored an unbeaten century in last week's first Test defeat in Barbados, shared a 130-run partnership with Narsingh Deonarine (55) to give West Indies hope of a first innings lead when the wheels suddenly fell off and it lost five wickets for just 19 runs.
Deonarine was stumped by Matthew Wade shortly after completing his third half-century in his 10th Test then Lyon trapped Chanderpaul LBW with a ball that turned just enough to beat the inside edge.
Darren Sammy (1), Shane Shillingford (4) and Kemar Roach (duck) then followed in quick succession, leaving Carlton Baugh (17 not out) and Fidel Edwards (duck) to battle through to stumps.
Lyon says his performance meant as much to him as his five-wicket haul on debut against Sri Lanka last year.
"Obviously different playing my first Test match and being able to grab five wickets, but here today's been a hard toil for the whole Australian side," he said.
"I'm still over the moon even though I didn't run around like I did in Galle. Just really happy with the way things panned out, but saying that we've still got a lot of work to do to win this Test match."
Lyon says claiming the wicket of Chanderpaul added to the significance of his dismissals.
"He's one of the best batsman going around in world cricket," he said.
"You look at all the other best batters in the world, they're not easy to get out. It's Test match cricket for a reason and full credit to Chanderpaul.
"He's a great player and it's definitely a challenge for all our players and we're looking forward to every challenge when we walk out to the crease. It's difficult to bowl to him but it's a great challenge and we're definitely up for it."
Chanderpaul, a thorn in Australian sides for years, had been given a life on 8 when the Australian skipper Michael Clarke failed to grasp a difficult chance at slip that deflected off Wade.
The unorthodox left-hander then made the Australians pay for the missed opportunity with a watchful 217-ball innings that featured 10 boundaries and a six, off left-arm spinner Michael Beer.
Deonarine also had a close shave early in his innings, scrambling home by a whisker to avoid being run out on the last ball before lunch.
The day began in bizarre circumstances when play was delayed for 20 minutes because of a power outage.
The two teams walked on to the field as scheduled but were told by match referee Jeff Crowe to retreat back to the dressing room before a ball was bowled because there was no live television footage.
Australia's frontline bowlers failed to make any inroads in the morning session and it was left to part-time seamer Mike Hussey to make the initial breakthrough, removing Darren Bravo for 38.
Australia did not get another wicket until after tea when the second session was interrupted for around 90 minutes because of a passing rain shower.
Reuters/ABC
Tags: cricket, sport, trinidad-and-tobago First posted April 18, 2012 07:39:29
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