Twitter Reactions: Australia in driver's seat with a lead of 344 runs in Perth Test

Australia find themselves in the driver’s seat in the first Test at Perth as they have a mammoth lead of 344 runs after the end of the third day’s play. The Aussies showcased collective performances with both the bat and ball and made the West Indies toil hard throughout this contest.

Even though the Windies did fight hard with the bat for nearly two sessions of the day’s play, it was just not enough to challenge the formidable Australian team and now, they have a daunting task of saving the Test match by pulling off spectacular performances first with the ball in hand and then with the bat in the fourth innings.

Australia dominate on the third day

Having declared their innings at a mammoth 598/4 riding on double centuries from Marnus Labuschagne and Steve Smith, the Australian bowlers then ensured that the visitors did not reach anywhere near their first innings lead as they showcased some praiseworthy bowling performances.

The Caribbeans made a strong statement on a good batting wicket as captain Kraigg Brathwaite (64) and debutant Tagenarine Chanderpaul (51) added 78 runs for the opening stand.

Notably, only these two were the half-centurions for the visitors in the first innings. While some of the batters that followed did get starts, but they failed to convert them into big scores which hampered the West Indies from getting anywhere close to their first innings deficit and were bowled out for 283.

Skipper Pat Cummins and pace spearhead Mitchell Starc were the picks of the bowlers with three wickets each. Thus, with a sizeable first innings lead of 315 runs, Australia set out to add more to their tally in the second innings and bat the West Indies out of the Test match.

The Australians did lose the key wicket of opener Usman Khawaja early for six, but David Warner (18*) and Marnus Labuschagne (3*) then ensured that there were no further hiccups and finished the day at 29/1.

Here’s how Twitter reacted to Australia’s performance on the third day: