Symonds Half-Century Leaves West Indies 287 To Win

An Andrew Symonds half-century helped Australia recover from 18 for five to be bowled out for 167, leaving the West Indies a victory target of 287 on day four of the opening Test in Jamaica.

Bad light ended play early with the West Indies on 46 for one, Brenton Parchment caught by Brad Haddin off of Stuart Clark for 12 and Devon Smith (19) and Ramnaresh Sarwan (eight) the unbeaten batsmen. The West Indies will resume the final day requiring a further 241 runs to win, Australia nine wickets in a match that is beautifully poised.

Symonds hit 79, sharing half-century stands with Brad Hodge (27) and Haddin (23) before he was the second last wicket to fall, excellently caught by Darren Sammy off of Dwayne Bravo, who bowled excellently to return four for 47.

Daren Powell's fifth ball of the day caught the toe end of Mitchell Johnson's bat and gave wicket-keeper Denesh Ramdin a simple catch and at 18 for five, Australia had for just the fourth time in their long Test history lost five wickets before reaching 20 runs, the West Indians emulating England's efforts in 1888, 1896 and 1936.

Hodge counter-attacked with four boundaries and looked in good touch as he and Symonds moved Australia past 50 and brought up a half-century partnership in 95 balls. However, Hodge was out soon after, edging Bravo to Denesh Ramdin for 27.

A driven four from Haddin took Australia's lead past 200 and he and Symonds survived without further alarm to lunch. But for a better throw from the deep early in his innings, Symonds might have been run out and he made the home side pay.

After lunch, he hit three sixes off of Amit Jaggernauth, one of which took him to an eighth Test half-century and he received excellent support from Haddin. The pair added 74 before Haddin saw a full-blooded drive plucked out of the air by Runako Morton at short cover off of Bravo.

Brett Lee hung around for nine runs and received a through working over from Fidel Edwards. He was peppered with short balls until he was offered a length ball which he inside edged to Ramdin who took another smart catch. Lee hung around as if there was some doubt about the ball carrying but he was eventually given his marching orders after umpires Aleem Dar and Russell Tiffin conferred.

Perhaps he knew that the end of the innings was nigh, Symonds departing four runs later and then Stuart MacGill providing Morton with the simplest of catches at cover. Symonds' innings included nine fours and those three sixes and must rank as one of his best innings, coming as it did with Australia in all sorts of trouble.

287 will not be at all easy for the West Indians with Australia no doubt keen to bounce back from being rolled over for a below par score.

Australia outscored the West Indies 431 to 312 in their first innings; Ricky Ponting (158) and Shivnarine Chanderpaul (118) were centurions for Australia and West Indies respectively.