NOT a day has ended in this series without the West Indies facing a steep and slippery slope to climb.
It is no different this morning at Kensington Oval as they resume their attempt to reach the Himalayan heights of the draw they need in the third Test to prevent Australia completing their third consecutive victory.
Their belief is boosted by the presence of captain Brian Lara, their own Edmund Hilary, and his trusted deputy Ramnaresh Sarwan, their Sherpa Tenzing.
For the last two and a half hours and 37 overs yesterday, the left-handed Lara, gradually shaking off the high fever that had kept him in bed for much of the previous two days, and the right-handed Sarwan kept the persistent, probing, but increasingly impatient, Australians at bay.
They carefully, if not entirely comfortably, put on 93 to carry the West Indies to within 90 of erasing the deficit of 277 that was their first goal once Steve Waugh ordered them to follow-on at the close of their first innings at 328 an hour and 10 minutes into the morning.
Another 90 overs remain and, with three wickets already down, the objective is clear.
Lara, Sarwan and Shivnarine Chanderpaul, the only remaining batsmen with the class and experience to cope with the challenge, must bat through most, if not all of them.
The pitch, dry, with well defined rough from the bowlers' footmarks and widening cracks, remains depressingly slow, allowing batsmen to adjust to Stuart MacGill's sharp leg-breaks and all but the occasional yorker and reverse swerve from the fast bowlers.
A measure of the task is provided by a reference to the last day in the previous Test in Port-of-Spain. Then Lara and Sarwan batted through the first session as they went after a distant winning target of 407.
As soon as Sarwan was out immediately on resumption, five wickets tumbled for 25 and the West Indies were beaten by tea, in spite of Lara's 122.
As always, Lara's wicket is the key.
This is the scene of his finest innings, his match-winning, unbeaten 153 four years ago against an Australian team with an attack that included Glenn McGrath, Jason Gillespie and Stuart MacGill who are again among those striving to remove him.
Lara joined Sarwan at 94 for three the second ball after tea after Chris Gayle inexplicably strolled past a googly from MacGill and was stumped for 54, an innings of concentration and control that was spoiled by its soft conclusion.
Following his first innings 71, the tall left-hander hardly offered a false or misjudged stroke from the 123 balls he faced and stirred the few West Indians in a Sunday crowd dominated by vociferous Australians with several stirring off and cover drives.
He and Sarwan had restored the faltering innings with a partnership of 63 after Brett Lee produced the kind of unstoppable deliveries that even such an unhelpful surface cannot stifle.
Both swung in late and landed on a full length. Umpire Venkat's lbw decisions against Devon Smith and Daren Ganga were a formality.
Gayle and Sarwan repelled Lee's threat with bold counter-attack that included a ferocious hooked four by Gayle and two handsome drives on either side of the wicket by Sarwan in the same over.
But Sarwan had to overcome two early escapes.
Before he scored, he would have been run out for the sixth time in Tests had Steve Waugh not missed his throw as he scrambled through on Gayle's call for a run to cover.
At 14, he drove a waist-high return catch that Andy Bichel dropped. As he gradually got the pace of the pitch and a sighting of the bowling, he batted with increasing comfort.
Once Gayle was gone, Lara arrived at No.5, one lower than his usual position but three above where he was able to come on the previous day.
He announced himself with an effortless flick to the midwicket boundary off MacGill but the leg-spinner severely tested him with his best spell of the series.
He repeatedly found the rough outside the left-hander's off-stump and reduced the number of long-hops and full tosses that made him such an easy target in the first two Tests.
But Lara kept him at bay, often with his front pad, and Sarwan didn't have the problems created by the rough.
As Australia's patience wore thinner, Waugh gave Ricky Ponting a couple of overs of off-spin and bowled four overs of medium-pace himself. Wicket-keeper Adam Gilchrist stood up to the stumps to Glenn McGrath, a rare sight, and Darren Lehmann finished the day with an over of left-arm spin.
Nothing could shift the captain and his deputy but their job is not even halfway through.
Resuming at 291 for eight, the West Indies' fight was started in the morning by the pugnacious Tino Best who helped them reach 328 with his highest first-class score, 20 unbeaten that lasted 50 balls.
But that still left them 277 behind and they were batting again three-quarters of an hour before lunch.