Usman Khawaja and Joe Burns hammered centuries as Australia put the West Indies to the sword on the opening day of the second Test in Melbourne yesterday.
Fit-again Khawaja hit 144 for his third ton in four Test innings and opener Burns cracked 128 for his second Test hundred of the season as Australia reached 345-3 at stumps after being sent into bat.
Skipper Steve Smith was unbeaten on 32, with Adam Voges on 10.
Photo: AFP
Before the lowest Boxing Day crowd of 53,389 at the Melbourne Cricket Ground in 16 years, Australia made Windies skipper Jason Holder pay dearly for sending the home side in to bat after winning the toss.
It was another day of triumph for Khawaja, who returned from missing the past two Tests with a hamstring injury to take up where he left off.
Khawaja continued his rousing form this season after scoring 174 and 121 in the first two Tests against New Zealand last month.
He shared in a stand of 258 runs with Burns in the third-highest partnership for the second wicket at the famous ground.
Only two Australia partnerships for the second wicket at the MCG were higher — Ian Chappell and Bill Lawry’s 298 against the West Indies in 1968, and Don Bradman and Bill Woodfull’s 274 against South Africa in 1931. Khawaja had a life on 142, when Marlon Samuels dropped a chest-high sitter in the covers off Jerome Taylor.
Taylor had the last word when he snared Khawaja’s wicket just two runs later, with the Pakistan-born batsman caught down the leg-side by wicketkeeper Denesh Ramdin with just under six overs remaining before stumps.
Not since October has Khawaja been dismissed for less than 100 in any format of the game.
Burns made a personal statement with his ton amid concerns over his position in the side with the return of Khawaja.
Selectors ultimately decided to make the tough decision to drop Shaun Marsh to fit in Khawaja’s return, despite Marsh hitting his highest Test score of 182 against the Windies in Hobart.
Burns was finally out when he was smartly stumped by Ramdin off part-time spinner Kraigg Brathwaite for 128.
Burns reached the triple figures first, cracking spinner Jomel Warrican through point for three runs and Khawaja followed two deliveries later off a misfield at square-leg for a single.
It was the second ton of the season for Burns, who scored 129 against New Zealand in Brisbane.
The hapless Caribbean tourists again struggled to make any impression in the rain-delayed Boxing Day showpiece after losing by an innings and 212 runs in the first Test in Hobart.
So far in the series, Australia have amassed 928 runs for the loss of just seven wickets as the home side looked to build another formidable first-innings total.
The Windies removed dangerous opener David Warner for 23 in the fifth over.
Warner belted boundaries off Kemar Roach’s first three deliveries, plundering 15 off his opening over.
However, Warner was out three overs later when an attempted pull lobbed to Samuels, who took three snatches at the ball before holding on in the covers.
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