Aussie middle order stands tall on tricky Grenada surface

West Indies bowled Australia out in Grenada and were saved by light when it was their turn to bat

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Australia's in-form middle-order has stood tall to save another top order collapse on a Grenadian pitch already beginning to play tricks late on day one of the second Test.

Half-centuries by Beau Webster (60) and Alex Carey (63) batted Australia into a strong position with 286 on the board by stumps at the National Stadium in St George's, having recovered from 5-110 shortly after lunch.

That first innings total is 106 more than they managed batting first on day one in last week's series opener in Barbados, and looks a particularly imposing score considering captain Pat Cummins' dismissal to a short delivery that almost hit him on the ankles in the final session.

Having joined Webster following his 112-run sixth-wicket stand with wicketkeeper Carey, Cummins (17 off 20 balls) immediately went on the attack by thumping Justin Greaves (1-35) twice to fence through the off-side.

With the Aussie skipper looking less comfortable against the short ball, West Indies counterpart Roston Chase quickly went to that plan, and it took just three balls to pay off as Alzarri Joseph (4-61) banged it in short and had Cummins bowled off his pad.

But you could imagine the Aussie skipper's surprise when he jumped on the back foot and it cannoned into his shin, with the delivery shooting low from halfway down the pitch and rebounding off his pads and onto the stumps.

Bewildered, Cummins stood leaning on his bat examining the pitch before trudging off, perhaps trying to commit the suspect spot to his memory for when he gets the ball in his hand on day two.

"It was a bit of an outlier," Webster said post-play of the ball that dismissed Cummins.

"I felt like there wasn't too many that went ridiculously low … the majority of the balls were coming through pretty nice, albeit a little bit slower, it felt like the ball grabbed the surface the shorter they went.

"The wicket is still offering enough, definitely with the new ball it looked like it swung around quite a bit that morning session so hopefully we take advantage of that (on day two).

"I would have liked to put a three in front (of the total) no doubt, but 286 I think is a relatively good day."

The opening day wasn't without another contentious third umpiring decision with destructive No.5 Travis Head (29) less than impressed when given out after a fair catch review.

It's right after the review! Shai Hope takes a brilliant catch to dismiss Travis Head.💥 #WIvAUS | #FullAhEnergy pic.twitter.com/6PEYmdk3Ns — Windies Cricket (@windiescricket) July 3, 2025

It was a superb grab from wicketkeeper Shai Hope diving low to his left after Shamar Joseph got a delivery to rise sharply from a length and rap Head on the handle. Having survived a similar low catch review in the previous Test, the left-hander's luck ran out in Grenada with TV umpire Nitin Menon – who has swapped places with Adrian Holdstock (on-field) for the second Test – satisfied the 'keeper's glove was under the ball.

Carey was again exceptional at putting pressure back on the Windies' quicks when he joined Webster, the South Australian racing to 25 from his first 25 balls as he continued his tactic of walking at the fast bowlers and crashing them down the ground.

It has indeed been a successful method of late for the left-handed keeper-bat, yielding him the third most runs (53) in Test cricket since the start of 2024 behind England's Harry Brook (108) and his Indian counterpart Rishabh Pant (71) with that approach.

Carey streakily went to his second straight half-century with a boundary edged between the 'keeper and a wide second slip, having also been dropped on 46 when Hope couldn't hang on to a top edge leaping above his head.

He also rode his luck running between the wickets, with West Indies missing two chances to run him out when on 10 and 51 amid another sloppy day in the field for the hosts.

Carey fell when he chipped a long hop from Greaves straight to midwicket as Webster too went to a second consecutive fifty as he added another 45 runs with the lower-order before he was run out attempting a second trying to keep the strike.

Alzarri Joseph (4-61) enjoyed his best Test innings haul in more than two years, picking up two of the last four wickets to bowl Australia out just after 5.30pm local time. With the sun on its way down past the regular stumps time, West Indies weren't required to face a ball as the light was called with only 66.5 overs of play possible following two earlier rain delays.

It was another tough day for Australia's top order in Grenada even with the return of Steve Smith (3) as the tourists slumped to 4-93 at lunch after Cummins opted to bat.

Usman Khawaja (16) and Sam Konstas (25) began the brightly as they put on 47 for the opening wicket, the latter greeting Shamar Joseph's first ball of the match with a crisply struck pull shot to the fence.

It was one of four boundaries teenage opener Konstas hit in his 37-ball stay in a noticeable upshift in intent from the first Test, also hitting Joseph (1-63) for consecutive fours through point and gully to end the eighth over.

But it was about then that the lacquer much have worn off the specifically designed Caribbean Dukes ball as it started to swing, which led to both openers' downfalls in a matter of minutes.

Having become the 16th Australian to pass 6000 career runs in Tests with his second run of his innings, Khawaja was caught on the crease by Alzarri Joseph and trapped lbw to a ball that swung in late.

Konstas followed him back five balls later as he couldn’t resist driving hard at a full swinging delivery from the first ball of recalled paceman Anderson Phillip's (1-46) next over and feathered an edge behind.

Alzarri Joseph made it three wickets for three runs in three overs when he had Smith top edging a pull shot from a back-of-a-length delivery that Phillip took smartly tucked up against the boundary rope at deep fine leg, with the star batter facing just six balls in his first innings back from a dislocated finger.

No.3 Cameron Green hit several booming drives in his 37-ball 26 but it was his attempt at two more in the last over before lunch that will leave him ruing what could have been.

Having aimed a cover drive off Jayden Seales (2-45) that lobbed to John Campbell who then grassed a relatively straight forward chance close in on the off side, Green tried again on the sixth ball of the over just as the clock struck midday local time.

This one found a thick edge and flew to Chase at gully, who took it comfortably fielding in a new catching position after the hosts rejigged their slips cordon following seven dropped catches behind the wicket in Barbados last week.

It left Australia 4-93 at the main break, which became 5-110 when play resumed after the first rain delay that extended lunch by 20 minutes, leaving the red-hot Carey and Webster to dig Australia out of trouble throughout the second session.

Qantas Tour of the West Indies

First Test: Australia won by 159 runs

Second Test: July 3-7, St George's, Grenada (midnight AEST)

Third Test: July 12-16, Kingston, Jamaica (4.30am AEST)

Australia Test squad: Pat Cummins (c), Sean Abbott, Scott Boland, Alex Carey, Cameron Green, Josh Hazlewood, Travis Head, Josh Inglis, Usman Khawaja, Sam Konstas, Matt Kuhnemann, Marnus Labuschagne, Nathan Lyon, Steve Smith, Mitchell Starc, Beau Webster

West Indies Test squad: Roston Chase (c), Jomel Warrican (vc), Kevlon Anderson, Kraigg Brathwaite, John Campbell, Keacy Carty, Justin Greaves, Shai Hope, Tevin Imlach, Alzarri Joseph, Shamar Joseph, Brandon King, Johann Layne, Mikyle Louis, Anderson Phillip, Jayden Seales

First T20I: July 20, Kingston, Jamaica (July 21, 11am AEST)

Second T20I: July 22, Kingston, Jamaica (July 23, 11am AEST)

Third T20I: July 25, Basseterre, St Kitts (July 26, 9am AEST)

Fourth T20I: July 26, Basseterre, St Kitts (July 27, 9am AEST)

Fifth T20I: July 28, Basseterre, St Kitts (July 29, 9am AEST)

West Indies T20 squad: TBC

Australia's T20 squad: Mitchell Marsh (c), Sean Abbott, Cooper Connolly, Tim David, Ben Dwarshius, Nathan Ellis, Cameron Green, Aaron Hardie, Josh Hazlewood, Josh Inglis, Spencer Johnson, Matt Kuhnemann, Glenn Maxwell, Mitch Owen, Matthew Short, Adam Zampa

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