Australia in charge after Lara dramas

Brian Lara dragged himself out of his sick bed in a brave, belated and ultimately vain effort to help his beleagured West Indies on the third day of the Third Test.

Amid strong, but unconfirmed, reports that he had gone down with chicken pox, Lara arrived at the ground at tea and appeared from the Sir Garfield Sobers pavilion 40 minutes after the interval with the West Indies struggling on 245 for 6. With Australia's 605 for 9 declared staring down from the scoreboard, the West Indies were heading towards a sizeable deficit and a likely follow-on.

Understandably, Lara was a mere shadow of the batsman whose previous three innings had been 110, 91 and 122. But he kept going for an hour and 20 minutes and 54 balls for 14 before he was adjudged lbw to Andy Bichel with six overs remaining. The West Indies ended the day on 291 for 8, still 314 in arrears on a bare, dry pitch described by Steve Waugh as the slowest he had played on in his 159 Tests but showing an inclination to keep low. With two days remaining, they will do well to salvage a draw and prevent Australia extending their lead to 3-0 in the four-match series.

Twice during the day, partnerships frustrated the Australians. Each time one was broken, another wicket soon fell. Over the first hour and 35 minutes, left-handers Chris Gayle and Devon Smith extended their opening partnership from its overnight 89 to 139 before Jason Gillespie accounted for both in a spell of high-quality fast bowling. He bowled Gayle off-stump for 71 in one over and removed Smith for 59 to an edged drive to the keeper in his next.

With Lara absent, Daren Ganga and Ramnaresh Sarwan slowly, but surely, put on 63 for the third wicket before a couple of careless strokes brought the wickets of Ganga and Shivnarine Chanderpaul in successive overs. Ganga paddled occasional spinner Darren Lehmann's full toss to mid-wicket after scoring 26 and Chanderpaul pulled Stuart MacGill's long-hop to mid-wicket where Brett Lee claimed a good, running catch.

Omari Banks and Carlton Baugh, two 21-year-olds, played enterprisingly for 24 each but Lara's dismissal, to his obvious distress, was the key wicket for Australia.