Clarke sets up big Australia total

Michael Clarke continued his blistering form on the second morning, dashing West Indies' hopes of restricting Australia after they picked up a couple of early wickets. Australia went to lunch at 360 for 5 with Clarke on 85 and Brad Haddin on 33, and the hosts were running out options with a five-man pace attack on a dead, flat pitch.

Clarke launched some truly punishing drives as he galloped along at a strike-rate around 70 for much of the session, building on the solid platform set down by Simon Katich and Ricky Ponting on the first day. He leant into his strokes beautifully, timing the ball perfectly and finding gaps where there looked to be none.

His best shot of the day came when he pierced the miniscule hole between the extra cover and the short extra cover with a cracking drive that flew away for four off Daren Powell. Clarke's cover-drives were the prettiest but he also timed his cuts terrifically and scampered through for quick singles that built the frustration for West Indies.

While Clarke was revelling in his role as vice-captain and refreshed after two months away from the game, Haddin was also enjoying his new position as Australia's permanent No. 7. He wanted the runs to keep flowing, matching Clarke with a couple of cover-drives and punishing anything short with pulls, cuts and a willingness to go over the top.

Their 64-run partnership subdued West Indies after they managed two wickets early in the first half of the session; a good result following an opening day on which they only picked up three. Katich had not added to his overnight score of 113 when he got a slightly misdirected inswinger from Jerome Taylor, the movement taking it down leg and as Katich tried to glance he feathered to Denesh Ramdin, who took a good catch moving to his right.

Andrew Symonds also fell to a leg-side caught-behind for 18 after Fidel Edwards pushed him onto the back foot with a couple of short deliveries that found some extra bounce. Symonds tried to flick some easy runs through but the ball ran off the face and Ramdin completed another nifty take, this time moving to his left.

But the leg-side chance that could have meant most to West Indies came in the next over when Clarke, who had 63 at the time, made better contact with a stray Taylor ball and Ramdin fumbled a tough but gettable opportunity. Clarke immediately made West Indies pay with one of his best shots of the day when he walked at Taylor and turned a good ball into half-volley to send a cover-drive rocketing to the boundary. By lunch the miss had already been costly; the remainder of the day will determine just how much Ramdin will regret the dropped chance.

Gilchrist,Clarke, and Symonds pile on the pain

Once upon a time there were some Australian batsmen who ... It's becoming a familiar fairytale of big hitting against Sri Lanka - or a recurring nightmare depending on your view - and the second day in Hobart was no different, as Australia racked up 5 for 542 before declaring.

Michael Clarke and Michael Hussey pushed them past 400 before Adam Gilchrist and Andrew Symonds weighed in with half-centuries, Symonds' second in a row. Gilchrist was in imperious form, cracking 67 from 77 balls, including three sixes which made him the only player to hit 100 Test sixes.

Two of his aerial on-side sixes against Muttiah Muralitharan were reminiscent of his destruction against another slow bowler, Monty Panesar, in last year's Ashes in Perth, but once Symonds brought up his fifty, Ricky Ponting called in his troops before Gilchrist could do further damage.

Brett Lee and Mitchell Johnson were then immediately on the money, troubling Marvan Atapattu and Michael Vandort, who had been boosted to opener ahead of Sanath Jayasuriya, with their movement. Vandort survived on nought when Ponting couldn't clutch a hard chance off Johnson above his head at second slip. But the pair weathered a stormy 12 overs before bad light brought an early close.

As on the first day, the Test had been mirroring Brisbane, with Hussey and Clarke reaching their 100 partnership before lunch, before Hussey fell to Dilhara Fernando in the afternoon. Symonds then joined Clarke as they pressed the accelerator.

Then came an adjustment to the script, with Lasith Malinga finally striking to remove Clarke short of his hundred. At 5 for 447, however, Australia were hardly troubled and just to prove the point, Gilchrist stroked two fours from his first two Test deliveries since January.