Just to rub salt into the wounds of the West Indies, Australia ploughed on to declare at 583-4 on the second day of the first Test at Hobart.

And in doing so, Adam Voges and Shaun Marsh set a record for the highest fourth-innings partnership in Test history at 449. Steve Smith rang the bell and called in his players after Voges had moved on to 269, while Marsh was on 189 when he was caught off the bowling of left-arm spinner Jomel Warrican. They had accumulated their 449 in 87.3 overs at a strike rate of 5.13.

(if it is of any interest, the West Indies were on 207-6 at the close).

This stand was the sixth-highest in Test history and the highest in Australia. The partnership fell only three runs short of eclipsing the highest stand in Tests for Australia, which came between Don Bradman and Bill Ponsford at the Oval in 1934.

♦The previous highest fourth-wicket partnership in Tests was 437, scored by Mahela Jayawardene and Thilan Samaraweera against Pakistan in Karachi in 2008-09. Voges and Marsh also added the first 400-run stand for the fourth wicket for Australia in Tests. The highest before this was the 388 runs added by Bradman and Ponsford at Headingley in the 1934 Ashes.

♦The previous highest partnership in Tests in Australia, before the stand between Voges and Marsh was 405. Don Bradman and Sid Barnes had added 405 for the fifth wicket in the Ashes at the SCG in 1946-47. The partnership between Voges and Marsh is only the second 400-plus stand in Tests in Australia.

♦This was only the second double-century by a batsman making his debut after the age of 35. The previous one was by Zimbabwe’s dave Houghton, who made his Test debut at the age of 35 years and 117 days, and scored 266 against Sri Lanka in 1994.

♦Voges’ strike rate of 94.38 was the fourth highest in any individual innings of 250 or more runs (based on available balls-faced information). This is also the third-highest strike-rate n an innings of 200 or more by a non-opening batsman.

♦Voges’ previous best in first-class cricket, was 249, which came earlier this year against South Australia at the Adelaide Oval. His 269* is his third double-hundred in first-class cricket.

♦Shaun Marsh’s previous highest in first-class cricket, was 166* against Queensland at the WACA in 2007-08. This was Marsh’s third century in Tests; each Test century has been in excess of 140. Marsh’s batting average has climbed from 32.57 before this Test to 37.72 after his 182.

Stats courtesy of ESNPCricinfo.com