Australia were in complete control of the first Test against West Indies on Friday after the highest fourth wicket stand in the history of Test cricket drove them to 583-4 declared and the tourists were reduced to 81-4 at tea on day two.
Adam Voges scored 269 not out and Shaun Marsh 182 in the record-breaking partnership of 449, allowing Australia skipper Steve Smith to declare during the lunch break and send out his bowlers for the second session.
After paceman Josh Hazlewood had trapped opener Kraigg Brathwaite lbw for two, spinner Nathan Lyon (3-19) came on and
dismissed Rajendra Chandrika (25), Marlon Samuels (9) and Jermaine Blackwood for a duck.
Darren Bravo, who had scored 32, and Denesh Ramdin, who had yet to score, will resume after the break looking to make further inroads into the monumental 502-run first innings deficit.
Lyon's spell underlined the utter dominance of Australia over the hapless tourists since lunch on the opening day and Jason Holder's men could be forgiven for hoping the drizzle at Hobart's Bellerive Oval would intensify enough to stop play.
Voges and Marsh were scarcely troubled in the first session when, after resuming on 438-3, they plundered runs and sent record stumbling apparently at will in their epic stand, the sixth highest of all time for any wicket.
They were separated when Marsh was caught at midwicket just before the break, leaving the duo just two runs shy of the record for the highest stand by any Australians in Tests set by Bill Ponsford and Donald Bradman in 1934.
Voges's 269 gave him his maiden Test double century and overhauled the Bellerive Oval individual Test record of 209 that Ricky Ponting set against Pakistan in 2010.
The 36-year-old faced only 285 balls in his epic innings and hit 33 fours, including the one that took the partnership past the 437 that Mahela Jayawardene and Thilan Samaraweera combined to score for Sri Lanka against Pakistan in Karachi in 2009.
Still in his first year of Test cricket, Voges reached the double century mark with a single to deep point, whipping off his helmet to celebrate.
His fellow thirtysomething Western Australian Marsh reached his first Test 150 with another single soon afterwards and
looked to be heading for a double century of his own as lunch approached.
An attempted slog sweep off left-arm spinner Jomel Warrican (3-158), however, went straight to Darren Bravo in the field and brought to an end their glorious partnership. – Reuters