West Indies' top-order batting failed to capitalise on excellent batting conditions in reaching lunch at 85 for three on the opening day of the first Test of the two-match series at the Windsor Park Stadium in Dominica on Wednesday. Denesh Ramdin's decision to bat first on winning the toss was justified by the benign nature of the track, however Australia's perseverance and Caribbean indiscipline paid off for the visitors.
Kraigg Brathwaite looked solid before edging a delivery from Josh Hazlewood to wicketkeeper Brad Haddin after half-an-hour's play. His opening partner, fellow-Barbadian Shai Hope, played a few expansive drives but chased one wide delivery too many off Mitchell Johnson for Shaun Marsh to take the diving catch at gully and send the batsman back to the pavilion for 36.
In between those dismissals, West Indies also lost the crucial wicket of Darren Bravo. The experienced left-hander took 14 deliveries to get off the mark and was just getting into his stride when an attempt to play a forcing shot through the off side produced an outside edge for Australian captain Michael Clarke to snare an excellent catch at slip, giving off-spinner Nathan Lyon his first wicket. Debutant Shane Dowrich, who actually plays for his native Barbados as a specialist wicketkeeper-batsman, will resume after lunch alongside the experienced Marlon Samuels.
Dowrich fills the spot left by Shivnarine Chanderpaul who, after consecutive poor series in South Africa and at home to England, has been omitted 87 runs short of surpassing Brian Lara record of 11,953 as the most by a West Indian in Test cricket. At the age of 35, Adam Voges slots into the Australian middle-order as his country's 11th oldest Test debutant. His opportunity comes after opener Chris Rogers was ruled out of consideration for the match after showing symptoms of concussion following a blow on the helmet while batting in the nets on Sunday.
Amid speculation over team selection on what is expected to be a spin-friendly pitch, neither side has opted for a second specialist spinner with leg-break bowler Devendra Bishoo returning to the home side after missing the final Test against England last month with a finger injury. Lyon, who played in Australia's last Test here in 2012, is the tourists' frontline slow bowler for the match and after the early success, needs three more wickets to surpass Hugh Trumble as his country's most successful off-spinner in Test cricket.
==============================================
Scoreboard
==============================================
West Indies 1st Innings
==============================================
K. Brathwaite c wkpr Haddin b Hazlewood 10
S. Hope c Marsh b Johnson 36
D. Bravo c Clarke b Lyon 19
S. Dowrich not out 15
M. Samuels not out 3
----------------------------------------------
Extras: (w-1, nb-1) 2
Total: (26 overs, 3 wickets) 85
==============================================
Fall of wickets: 1-23 (Brathwaite), 2-63 (Bravo), 3-75 (Hope).
To bat: Jermaine Blackwood, Denesh Ramdin (wicketkeeper/batsman), Jason Holder, Jerome Taylor, Devendra Bishoo, Shannon Gabriel.
Bowling: Johnson 8-2-21-1 (1nb), Hazlewood 9-4-19-1 (1w), Starc 5-0-27-0, Lyon 4-0-18-1.
Toss: West Indies
Umpires: Aleem Dar (PAK), Richard Kettleborough (ENG)
TV Umpire: Ian Gould (ENG)
Match referee: Roshan Mahanama (SRI).
(Incomplete)
Comments
Comments are closed.