Australia will look to build the advantage they acquired on the opening day against the West Indies as the first Test in Hobart continues. You can follow the live scores and blog of the second day from 10:30am (AEDT).
Expectations of the touring West Indian side haven’t been high, but when they had the Aussies struggling at 3-121 at lunch, there was hope.
Australia had lost two of their best batsmen over the last 24 months or so, in David Warner and Steven Smith. Warner managed to pass another 50, while Smith fell cheaply to give the West Indies an outside chance of running through the Aussie middle order.
Instead, it was the unlikely pair of Adam Voges and Shaun Marsh who dug in for a record-breaking 317-run stand for the fourth wicket. Worse for the tourists, the two are still at the crease, going strong.
Apart from the three wickets that fell, the only half-chance on offer was a dropped catch off Warner, with Denesh Ramdin stretching low in front but failing to latch onto the dipping ball. That happened in the first hour of play, after which the Aussies lost a couple of wickets but were rescued by the Voges-Marsh stand.
Both Western Australian batsmen hit centuries, and will now look to push on to 200s. Such was the tepid nature of the West Indian bowling, it won’t be surprising if they get there.
What was even stranger was West Indies captain Jason Holder opting not to take the new ball, despite having already conceded plenty to the hosts. He also wanted to field first after winning the toss, and went in with four seamers and one spinner, yet bowled 41 of the 89 overs as spin.
While Jomel Warrican made an early impression with the wickets of Warner and Smith, it was strange to see part-timers Kraigg Brathwaite and Jermaine Blackwood share a total of 19 overs.
If the score against them looked bad, the body language only seemed worse, and Warrican admitted his side could have done a lot more to not fall into that trap.
“I think it’s difficult when they have a good partnership to keep your head up. That’s the important part. I think that we didn’t do it very well to be honest,” he said of the day’s play.
“I think we let the partnership get to us and our energy wasn’t there. But I think tomorrow things will be a lot different. I think guys will come out more hungry and more fresh as well and looking to get Australia out as quick as possible.”
That will be the hope, because even if they did just that, Australia are already looking at a score of 600-plus. And having batted at almost five an over all day, they still have enough time for their bowlers to target the inexperienced West Indian batting.
Come Day 2, the West Indies need to show they want to compete. They will still struggle against a team that excels when playing at home, but at least there will be some interest in the game.
Follow the second day of the Australia versus West Indies first Test from 10:30am (AEDT), and post your comments in the section below.
Ronan O'Connell
Expert
Don't despair Andy, things might eventually have value
Ronan O'Connell
Expert
Pattinson's pace was down today but you wonder whether, being so underdone, he was really bowling at 100% effort. After being smashed by injuries for two-and-a-half years now, and being only 2 games back from his latest serious injury, you could understand him bowling within himself. As it was, his average speed was 137kmh and he pushed up to 145mh, so that is still sharp enough...quicker than anyone in the Test so far bar Shannon Gabriel.
jamesb
Guest
Patto is only 25. How is that old. He just needs more bowling under his belt.
Andy
Guest
And Liverpool fc to win back to back Champions League trophies. And Henry 5th to win at Agincourt. We are listing things that happened way back when and have really nothing to do with Australian pitches being really batsman friendly as a rule right?
Johnno
Guest
Patto's past it and too old, he's lost his pace.
Ronan O'Connell
Expert
Easy enough for a 5-0 Ashes
Andy
Guest
Say what! An Australian pitch that is easy to bat on? No freaking way
Suneer Chowdhary
Roar Guru
An excellent end for West Indies after most things had gone Australia's way till before Bravo and Roach came together. Bravo and Roach have added 91 off 25.3 overs for the seventh day but West Indies are still 177 runs short of making Australia bat again, 376 less than their first innings score. Nathan Lyon was the pick of the bowlers for Australia but some of the shot-making has been underwhelming. Soft dismissals most of them. This was after Australia amassed 4/583 batting first, with Shaun Marsh scoring 182 and Adam Voges remaining unbeaten on 269. Also a word on the pitch, it hasn't provided much assistance to the bowlers. First Voges and Marsh showed it and later Bravo and Roach. If you can bat on dourly, keep defending and pick up the odd runs, think you can bat the distance. Will it change its nature, I don't know, but West Indies have missed a good chance to end the day without the loss of too many. That's it from me, won't be around tomorrow or on Sunday but the live coverage of this Test will continue on The Roar. If by the dint of a miracle, the game goes on to the final day, I will be back. Ciao.
Simoc
Guest
So sad to see ex firebrand James Pattinson looking like your average run of the mill stock bowler. He has obviously been picked on the past, not on the present.
Suneer Chowdhary
Roar Guru
A couple of byes as the ball dips on Nevill behind the stumps before Roach punches one to the leg-side for a couple. Takes him into the 30s. And then defends the last ball of the day to the leg-side to end the day unbeaten. West Indies end at 6/207.
Suneer Chowdhary
Roar Guru
Last over of the day then and Bravo gets himself a single off the first ball. That takes him to 94 and West Indies to 200. The stand's worth 84.
Suneer Chowdhary
Roar Guru
Huge appeal for a catch and given not-out. They have a chat, which continues for a long, long time before going for the review. Roach was looking for a drive against Lyon's turn, was beaten. The bat hits the ground for sure, but was it also hitting the ball? Hot-Spot shows nothing. RTS shows there's a spike but that's probably the sound that's being made by the bat hitting ground, which means he's decided to uphold the on-field umpire's decision. Australia have lost both their reviews.
Brains of a bimbo (Atgm)
Guest
We will be denied the greatness of Darren Bravo because he's stuck with mugs.
Suneer Chowdhary
Roar Guru
Four leg-byes off the penultimate delivery. On the leg-stump line by Pattinson and a bit of a tickle off the Bravo pads gets West Indies to 6/199. And off the last ball of the Pattinson over, it's beaten a swishing outside edge. 6/199 in 63.
Suneer Chowdhary
Roar Guru
And now with two balls to go, Roach has been able to rotate the strike. A single. 6/195 in 62.4.
Suneer Chowdhary
Roar Guru
Bravo gets a single to take him to 93. Four more balls.
Suneer Chowdhary
Roar Guru
Just the four runs from that Lyon over. 6/193 in 62, one more over remains.
Suneer Chowdhary
Roar Guru
Nathan Lyon returns to the bowling crease. I think two more overs remain. In fact it's four more overs. Roach gets a fullish delivery and Roach has smashed it through the covers for a four. Good shot that. 6/193 in the 62nd
Suneer Chowdhary
Roar Guru
The stand's worth 71 now and Roach is batting like he has a lot of time to defend against most deliveries. This has been the case throughout the innings I sense, the pitch hasn't been a quick one at all. As far as the wickets are concerned, a lot of them were thrown by the West Indies to poorly-executed strokes. Not a track where wickets should have been that easy to come. 6/189 in 60.
JGK
Roar Guru
This is a superb innings from Bravo.