Five quick hits: Three shocking DRS calls, Windies butter-fingers return – abc.net.au

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By Simon Smale
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Australia's openers struggled as Beau Webster got a tad fortunate with his second wicket. (AP Photo)
A catalogue of shocking DRS calls, an Alex Carey collectors item, and the West Indies' butter-fingers are back.
Here are five quick hits from day two of the first Test at Kensington Oval.
Hazlewood was agreived early on day two. (AP: Ricardo Mazalan)
They say start the way you mean to go on, and — not for the first time — DRS umpire Adrian Holdstock was in the thick of things from the very first over of the day.
Josh Hazlewood appealed for LBW after the ball had collected a mixture of Roston Chase's bat and pad and squirted away on the leg-side.
The umpire was unmoved and Pat Cummins decided to send it upstairs.
The Australian captain didn't look convinced, but he must have thought his Hail Mary had come good when Ultra-edge appeared to show the ball brushing the front pad before taking a large inside edge.
The Australians thought they had King on review. (AP: Ricardo Mazalan)
As the images played on the big screen, the stump mic picked up the distinctive "yeah's" and backslapping that come when a fielding team think they've got one right.
However, third umpire Holdstock wasn't moved by the jubilation of the tourists as he uttered the sentence no bowler ever wants to hear: "There appears to be a spike when the ball is next to the bat."
The problem was — there also appeared to be a spike next to the pad in the previous frame.
Australia was rightly aggrieved, but its luck would soon change.
Chase's review was unsuccesful despite appearing to edge the ball onto his pad. (AP: Ricardo Mazalan)
If Australia was hard done by early in the day, the West Indies were on the receiving end of an even more inexplicable decision after lunch.
Roston Chase was given out to a Pat Cummins length delivery that nipped back into the West Indies captain and thudded into his back pad.
He looked absolutely dead in the water live, but Chase's immediate review suggested he must have gotten some bat on it.
And, seeing the replays on the big screen, it seemed this one was destined to be overturned, with the close-up, slow-motion replays showing a clear deviation from the edge of Chase's bat before the ball cannoned into his pad.
However, once again, both Ultra-edge and Holdstock were not convinced.
A shell-shocked Chase had to depart, the victim of another desperately bad decision that's gone against the West Indies in this Test.
Alex Carey should be ever so proud of his catch to dismiss Shai Hope.
Diving away to his left, he reached out at full stretch to grab the ball in his left glove before tumbling to the ground.
It was a stunning effort, but Richard Kettleborough wanted to have a look.
Hope's dismissal was the second big umpiring decision to go against the West Indies on day two. (AP: Ricardo Mazalan)
And a good thing too — the ball clearly hit the ground as Carey tumbled.
Except, that's not how umpire Holdstock, sitting in his ninth Test as a DRS umpire, saw it.
The West Indian box was clearly infuriated by the call, as were the commentators on ESPN.
"There are not many fans of Adrian Holdstock in the West Indies at the moment. Flabbergasted," former West Indies player Carlos Brathwaite said.
It was yet another baffling decision.
Hazlewood watched on as Carey grounded a relatively simple chance. (AP: Ricardo Mazalan)
It was a collector's item, just not one Hazlewood was in the market for.
Only a matter of overs after the first DRS drama of the day, the big quick was steaming in again, this time to West Indies debutant Brandon King.
King had been watchful all morning but, for some reason, thought a Hazlewood length ball was a good candidate to slash to the fence.
All he could get on it was a thick edge.
The ball went high, but it looked to be a pretty regulation catch for the usually so dependable Carey.
The ball went into the wicketkeepers outstretched glove, but then out, and then almost to Usman Khawaja at first slip, and then to the ground.
King — who had dropped three himself on day one — was given an improbable second life.
Hazlewood was not happy, having only just mourned one that was put down by Sam Konstas at short leg.
However, in typical Hazlewood fashion, he channelled all of his frustration into producing a perfect length ball that nipped back at King, who was shouldering arms as the ball clipped the top of his off stump.
Konstas was given two lives early on in Australia's second innings. (AP: Ricardo Mazalan)
With just a 10-run first innings lead, and with batting looking easier and easier in Bridgetown, the West Indies could scarcely afford a repeat of their first innings sloppiness in the field.
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However, in just the second over of Australia's second dig, the hosts' butter-fingers were back.
Sam Konstas, looking nervous and yet to get off the mark, guided an edge to John Campbell at third slip.
It should've been a regulation catch, but it went down.
Then, almost unbelievably, only a couple of deliveries later, another one went begging courtesy of Justin Greaves at second.
It meant that Shamar Joseph has now had catches dropped off his bowling five times in this Test alone, and 11 in all Tests since 2024 — the joint most of any bowler around the world.
"Unacceptable," said Ian Bishop on commentary for ESPN.
"It is unacceptable to ask your fast bowler to run in, over after over, only for you to grass catches," added Carlos Brathwaite.
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