HOBART • Adam Voges and Shaun Marsh put on 449 runs in the sixth-highest partnership in Test cricket history to put Australia firmly in control after the second day of the first Test against West Indies yesterday.
Voges hit a majestic 269 not out and Marsh a career-high 182 to claim the world record for a fourth-wicket stand, allowing Australia skipper Steve Smith to declare on 583-4 at lunch in Hobart.
The Australian bowlers then drove home the advantage in the final two sessions to reduce the tourists to 207-6 at stumps.
The day, though, belonged to Western Australians Voges and Marsh, who plundered runs and sent records tumbling almost at will in an epic stand.
They came together with the hosts wobbling at 121-3 just before lunch on the first day and batted through all bar a few minutes of three sessions before Marsh was dismissed almost 24 hours later.
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HIGHEST TEST PARTNERSHIPS BY WICKET
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1ST WICKET
415 Neil McKenzie/Graeme Smith (South Africa) v Bangladesh in 2008
2ND
576 Sanath Jayasuriya/Roshan Mahanama
(Sri Lanka) v India in 1997
3RD
624 Kumar Sangakkara/Mahela Jayawardene
(Sri Lanka) v South Africa in 2006
4TH
449 Adam Voges/Shaun Marsh (Australia) v West Indies in 2015
5TH
405 Sid Barnes/Don Bradman (Australia) v England in 1946
6TH
365* Kane Williamson/BJ Watling (New Zealand) v Sri Lanka in 2015
7TH
347 Denis Atkinson/Clairmonte Depeiaza
(West Indies) v Australia in 1955
8TH
332 Jonathan Trott/Stuart Broad (England) v Pakistan in 2010
9TH
195 Mark Boucher/Pat Symcox (South Africa) v Pakistan in 1998
10TH
198 Joe Root/James Anderson (England) v India in 2014
* Unbroken
REUTERS
The partnership bettered the 437 that Sri Lankans Mahela Jayawardene and Thilan Samaraweera put on for the fourth wicket against Pakistan in Karachi in 2009.
It was the highest partnership Down Under and the second-highest for any Australian pair, falling just two runs short of the record set by Bill Ponsford and Donald Bradman for the second wicket against England at The Oval in 1934.
It was also the highest partnership ever against the West Indies, easily beating the 411 that England's Peter May and Colin Cowdrey scored at Edgbaston in 1957.
It was all the more impressive because both batsmen are more than 30 years old, had played only 26 Tests between them, and were under pressure to retain their places.
The pair plundered the 449 runs from just 525 balls at a rate of more than five an over.
Voges, 36, still in his first year of Test cricket, reached his career-high score off only 285 balls with 33 fours. The right-hander has now accumulated 922 runs in 11 Tests at an average of 76.83.
Marsh, 32, faced 266 balls for his highest score in 30 Test innings.
THE GUARDIAN, REUTERS
AUSTRALIA V WEST INDIES
Day 3: Singtel TV Ch123 & StarHub Ch236, 7.30am
