Super Starc surges Aussies towards series clean sweep

Scorecard: West Indies v Australia

Australia need eight wickets to claim victory in the second Test and a series sweep after Mitchell Starc ripped out West Indies' opening pair late on day three following Michael Clarke's declaration in Kingston.

Australia's batsmen were given some much-needed match practice ahead of the Ashes as Shaun Marsh (69), David Warner (62) and Steve Smith (54 not out) all notched up half-centuries before Australia declared at 2-212 in their second innings.

Clarke's declaration left the home side needing 392 to win, and that ambitious target will seem particularly far away after they lost both openers for ducks to a rampant Starc in the eight overs before stumps, which left them reeling at 2-16.

Earlier, an explosive unbeaten half-century from Jason Holder guided the Windies past the follow-on mark, while Josh Hazlewood picked up two more wickets to complete his second five-wicket haul in Test cricket.

"I'm pretty happy with how the ball is coming out at the moment," Hazlewood said at stumps.

"(I had) pretty good rhythm even though it is pretty blustery out there with the wind.

"I think it has helped us in one way having two left armers from one end and I can bowl with Gaz from the other.

"They obviously put on a few more runs than we would have liked this morning, but the way we batted again I think was pretty good and to take two wickets late (made it) an outstanding day."

The Windies face a massive task on the final two days to save or win the match, and Holder said the young side was looking to at least put up a fight.

"It's a massive partnership but I think we just need to do it in partnerships and stages," Holder said.

"We need a big partnership from them (the batsmen at the crease) if we're even a chance and we need to apply ourselves a lot better than in the first innings."

The hosts started the day eight wickets down in their first innings and faced the possibility of being asked to bat again, but a fighting innings from Holder helped them add 77 runs in the first hour and reduce the first-innings deficit to 179 by the time the tenth wicket fell.

Resuming on 13, Holder launched Hazlewood over the off-side field three times in his opening three overs before taking Nathan Lyon for 20 from eight balls, including a six over long-off that brought up his second Test fifty.

The 23-year-old combined with Kemar Roach for a 77-run partnership, the second-highest ninth wicket stand by the West Indies in home Tests, with the No.10 contributing seven from 36 balls.

But just when Holder was in reach of an unlikely century, Hazlewood (5-38) removed Roach and Jerome Taylor in the space of three deliveries to secure his five-wicket haul, end the innings on 220 and leave Holder stranded on 82 not out from 63 balls, including 12 fours and two sixes.

Hazlewood claimed a second Test five-wicket haul

Marsh and Warner survived the 11 overs before lunch, helped along by some more baffling tactics from Windies skipper Denesh Ramdin, who removed Taylor and Roach from the attack after just seven overs despite the pair getting the new ball to swing and bounce dramatically.

Ramdin persisted with spin from the northern end for the entirety of the second session while the seamers charged in from the other, and the Aussie openers slowly found their rhythm on a surface that was showing signs of inconsistent bounce.

It took until the 23rd over of the innings for the duo to bring up the fifty partnership but they accelerated from that point, with 29 runs coming off two overs from left-arm spinner Veerasammy Permaul as the lead went past the 250 mark.

Warner brought up his half-century from 90 balls and then hit 10 off one over from part-timer Jermaine Blackwood before Marsh joined him with a half-century of his own.

But just when a century was seemingly within reach, Warner top-edged an ugly pull shot straight into the air to fall for 62 from 110 balls and give Roach the wicket he deserved after a probing spell before lunch.

It was a rare error in judgement during an at-times uncharacteristic innings from the dashing opener, who hit seven fours and a six in almost two-and-a-half hours at the crease that will be invaluable ahead of the first Ashes Test in just over three weeks’ time.

Smith got off the mark with a delightful cover drive for four off Roach as he and Marsh moved the score to 1-137 at the tea break, a lead of 316.

Marsh fell 20 minutes after the interval when, like Warner, he was dismissed in the sixties just when he started to look comfortable, well caught by Holder at midwicket to give Permaul just his second wicket of the match.

Smith was joined by skipper Clarke and the pair soon began batting in the manner that suggested a declaration late in the day was on the cards, especially when Smith advanced at Permaul twice in two balls and sent him sailing for a four and a six over the off-side.

Clarke (14 not out) brought the innings to an end at 4.23pm local time - shortly after Smith had notched his 11th Test fifty - setting the Windies an unlikely victory target of 392 and giving his bowlers eight overs to make at least one breakthrough before the close of play.

And the skipper was rewarded with two wickets in the opening over, Starc confirming his status as one of the best new-ball bowlers in the world by removing Kraigg Brathwaite and Rajendra Chandrika without scoring, the latter becoming the 40th man in history to record a pair on Test debut.

Two down seemingly became three when Darren Bravo was trapped in front by Nathan Lyon for the second time in two days and sent on his way by umpire Ian Gould. But Bravo reviewed the decision and the ball-tracking technology showed the ball to be bouncing over the top of the stumps, which brought exasperated gasps from the press room, confusion in the commentary box and a shake of the head from umpire Gould.

Australia: David Warner, Shaun Marsh, Steve Smith, Michael Clarke (c), Adam Voges, Shane Watson, Brad Haddin, Mitchell Johnson, Mitchell Starc, Nathan Lyon, Josh Hazlewood.

West Indies: Kraigg Brathwaite, Shai Hope, Darren Bravo, Shane Dowrich, Rajendra Chandrika, Jermaine Blackwood, Denesh Ramdin (c), Jason Holder, Jerome Taylor, Veerasammy Permaul, Kemar Roach.