Stuart MacGill is clean bowled by West Indies' Fidel Edwards on day two of the first Test match against Australia at Sabina Park yesterday. (Photo: Bryan Cummings)

Australia remained on top but West Indies led by a five-wicket haul from fast bowler Fidel Edwards fought all the way to stay in contention on day two of the first Digicel Test at Sabina Park yesterday.

The 26-year-old Edwards who has fond memories of Sabina Park having picked up five wickets on debut there back in 2003, bowled at high pace from his slinging, round-arm action for figures of 5-104 as Australia resumed yesterday at 301-4 and were dismissed in mid-afternoon for 431.

Andrew Symonds with a 115-ball unbeaten 70 (115 balls, two sixes, eight fours) kept Edwards and company at bay on a pitch that picked up significantly in pace from the first day and was increasingly untrustworthy in bounce.
Symonds marshalled the tail expertly to milk 63 runs for the last three wickets.

After a solid opening stand of 47 between Devon Smith (32) and Brenton Parchment (9), the West Indies then lost three quick wickets to the naggingly accurate seamer Stuart Clark (3-18) to end the day at 115-3. With three days remaining, the West Indies with skipper Ramnaresh Sarwan (7) also among the fallen, trail by 316 knowing they will have to reduce that lead to less than 200 today, to eliminate the risk of being asked to follow on.

The left-handed Shivnarine Chanderpaul on 25 and Runako Morton, 23, were unbeaten when the umpires called time at 5:30pm with only 79 of the scheduled 90 overs.

West Indies' elder stateman Shivnarine Chanderpaul in action against Australia on the second day of the first Test against the visiting Aussies at Sabina Park yesterday. (Photo: Bryan Cummings)

Last night a pleased Edwards credited consistency for what was his sixth five-wicket haul. "The coach has been asking us to put the ball in the right areas. The wicket has been playing up and down so the way I bowled is probably the best I've bowled against them (Australia)," said Edwards.

Australia, no doubt targeting in excess of 500 when the day started had to be content with an additional 130 runs for their last six wickets in 39 overs and five balls as Edwards and company kept a tight leash.

Brad Hodge (67) resuming from an overnight 53 in partnership with night watchman Mitchell Johnson on 1, pushed on quickly on the back of two meaty square cut boundaries off Edwards. But in the sixth over, Edwards' pacy, bouncing outswinger nicked the edge for wicketkeeper Denesh Ramdin to take the catch diving wide to his right at 326-5. The right-handed Hodge had counted nine fours and a six in his free-flowing 122-ball knock.

Symonds started slowly - spending 18 balls over his first run as he struggled for timing. But by the time Johnson with 22 from 53 balls chipped a catch to mid on against the nagging medium pace of Darren Sammy (2-78), Symonds was beginning to find his range.

Brad Haddin (11) with the intimidating task of filling the boots of Adam Gilchrist fell just before lunch at 368-7 under-edging an attempted pull against Sammy for Ramdin to complete the catch.

Symonds then mixed solid defence with bludgeoning blows including a mighty six over long in partnership with the lower order. He shared stands of 15 with Lee (4) for the eighth wicket, 16 with Clark (3) for the ninth and 32 for the last with MacGill (2). Edwards with two wickets and Darren Powell cleaned up the tail. The dismissal of Lee would have sent tremors through the West Indies camp. The right-hander ducked at a short delivery from Edwards, only to be struck low on his crouched body as the ball bounced far lower than was reasonable. The umpire lifted his finger in response to the bellowed appeal and TV replays suggested it would have hit the top of the stumps.

But despite the uncertainty about the bounce, Smith and Parchment (9) - opening partners for West Indies Under-19s several years ago - gave the home side hope in a confident stand of 47 before things went awry. Their approaches were very different with possibly the only similarity being their willingness to leave deliveries just wide of off stump from the explosively fast Brett Lee and his left-arm opening partner Mitchell Johnson.

While Smith - seeming to be in fine touch -middled and timed his scoring opportunities superbly into the gaps, Parchment when forced to play was mostly content to block.
So compact was Smith that his dismissal came as a surprise - the straight delivery from Clark squeezing between bat and pad to dislodge the bails.

A seemingly over-confident Sarwan had gotten to seven off nine balls when his attempted upper cut against Clark gave wicketkeeper Haddin a high catch to his right at 62-2. It became 68-3 when Parchment having been hit in the midriff by a shorter delivery from Clark, edged to the keeper ball as he stretched forward for another catch to the 'keeper.

Willed on by the crowd, Chanderpaul and Morton batted through the last 16 overs with only the odd alarm. Both used the sweep shot to good effect against the wrist spin of MacGill who found turn for his leg breaks but for the most looked less than threatening in the unbroken 47-run fourth wicket stand.

Australia 1st Innings

(Overnight 301-4)
Phil Jaques lbw b Edwards 9
Simon Katich c Sammy b Edwards 12
Ricky Ponting c Parchment b Bravo 158
Michael Hussey c Bravo b Jaggernauth 56
Brad Hodge c Ramdin b Edwards 67
Mitchell Johnson c Powell b Sammy 22
Andrew Symonds not out 70
Brad Haddin c Ramdin b Sammy 11
Brett Lee lbw b Edwards 4
Stuart Clark c Bravo b Powell 3
Stuart MacGill b Edwards 2
Extras: (2b, 13lb, 2nb) 17

TOTAL: (all out) 431

Overs: 126.5.

Fall of wickets: 1-18, 2-37, 3-174, 4-293, 5-326, 6-350, 7-368, 8-383, 9-399, 10-431.

Bowling: Daren Powell 29-4-99-1, Fidel Edwards 26.5-4-104-5, Darren Sammy 29-7-78-2 (1nb), Dwayne Bravo 22-6-61-1 (1nb), Amit Jaggernauth 20-0-74-1.

West Indies 1st innings

Devon Smith b Clark 32
Brenton Parchment c Haddin b Clark 9
Ramnaresh Sarwan c Haddin b Clark 7
Runako Morton not out 23
Shivnarine Chanderpaul not out 25
Extras: (1b, 7lb, 11nb) 19

TOTAL: (for three wickets) 115

Overs: 37.

Still to bat: Dwayne Bravo, Denesh Ramdin, Darren Sammy, Daren Powell, Fidel Edwards, Amit Jaggernauth.

Bowling: Brett Lee 11-4-25-0 (6nb), Mitchell Johnson 10-1-40-0 (5nb), Stuart Clark 8-1-18-3, Stuart MacGill 6-0-24-0, Andrew Symonds 2-2-0-0.

Umpires: Aleem Dar, Pakistan, and Russell Tiffin, Zimbabwe.
Third umpire: Norman Malcolm, West Indies.

Match Referee: Roshan Mahanama, Sri Lanka.