Determined to make amends for capitulation in Brisbane, West Indies came out fighting on the opening day of the second Test and thoroughly tested Australia at the Adelaide Oval.

Dwayne Bravo rode his luck to compile his third Test century, as the touring middle order defied impressive spells from Doug Bollinger and Shane Watson to reach stumps at 6 for 336.

Bravo successfully challenged an lbw decision, was put down twice and survived numerous lapses in concentration to craft a chancey 104, while Shivnarine Chanderpaul played a steadying 62.

Brendan Nash returned to the crease after missing the entire middle session to attend to an arm injury, and joined forces with the cavalier Darren Sammy as the pair both finished the day unbeaten on 44.

Their partnership of 63 kept the Windies in fighting spirit after an astute bowling change and successful challenge from Australian skipper Ricky Ponting yielded two wickets in a single Watson over.

That ended a 116-run union between Chanderpaul and Bravo that had frustrated the Australians between the lunch and tea breaks, and when Nathan Hauritz up-ended Bravo the tourists were at risk of falling apart at 6 for 273.

But Nash braved the pain inflicted from a short, rising delivery from former Queensland Bulls team-mate Mitchell Johnson and returned to anchor one end as Sammy took the Australians to task with some colourful strokeplay.

Earlier in the day, Bollinger announced his return to Test cricket with a successful spell in the morning session that returned the key scalps of opening pair Adrian Barath (3) and Chris Gayle (26).

Bollinger was attacked early on, particularly by Gayle who plundered the New South Wales left-armer for six down the ground, but his patience and consistency were rewarded and he finished the day with 2 for 42 from 15 overs.

Watson followed suit with 2 for 42 from 11, but it was a pivotal over in which he snared both Chanderpaul and Denesh Ramdin (4) that threatened to wrest the momentum West Indies had fought to earn.