Roseau: West Indies Shai Hope ducks to avoid being hit by a bouncer from Australia’s Mitchell Starc during the first day of the first Test on Wednesday.—AFP

ROSEAU (Dominica): Australia restricted West Indies to 85-3 at lunch after the home side opted to bat first in the the opening Test at Windsor Park on Wednesday.

Shai Hope, in his second Test, hit a composed 36, while fellow opener Kraigg Brathwaite (10) and Darren Bravo (19) were the other batsmen dismissed.

Debutant Shane Dowrich, undefeated on 15, and Marlon Samuels, 3 not out, took the hosts to the interval.

Josh Hazlewood, Nathan Lyon, and Mitchell Johnson each claimed a wicket.

Brathwaite and Hope gave the West Indies a sound start after captain Denesh Ramdin won the toss.

The young Barbadian pair added 23 before fast bowler Hazlewood drew a tentative stroke from Brathwaite, who tickled to wicket-keeper Brad Haddin.

Hope and Bravo put on a further 40 for the second wicket before spinner Lyon broke the blossoming stand.

Lyon, chosen as the only specialist spinner, induced an edge from Bravo, and captain Michael Clarke lunged low to his left to pluck a brilliant one-handed catch.

Australia was further rewarded for a disciplined bowling effort a half hour before lunch when left-arm pacer Johnson removed Hope. He drove loosely outside off stump and sparred to gully, where Shaun Marsh claimed a fine diving catch.

Both teams have included debutants in their squad with the West Indies introducing middle-order batsman Shane Dowrich, who actually plays for his native Barbados as a specialist wicket-keeper/batsman. He replaces Shivnarine Chanderpaul, whose 21-year international career came to an end after he was omitted following successive poor series in South Africa and at home to England.

At the age of 35, Adam Voges slots into the Australian middle-order as his country’s 11th oldest Test debutant. His opportunity comes as 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 needs four more wickets to surpass Hugh Trumble as his country’s most successful off-spinner in Test cricket.

Scoreboard

WEST INDIES (1st Innings):

K.C. Brathwaite c Haddin b Hazlewood 10

S.D. Hope c Marsh b Johnson 36

D.M. Bravo c Clarke b Lyon 19

S.O. Dowrich not out 15

M.N. Samuels not out 3

EXTRAS (W-1, NB-1) 2

TOTAL (for three wkts, 26 overs) 85

FALL OF WKTS: 1-23, 2-63, 3-75.

TO BAT: J. Blackwood, D. Ramdin, J.O. Holder, J.E. Taylor, D. Bishoo, S.T. Gabriel.

BOWLING (to-date): Johnson 8-2-21-1 (1nb); Hazlewood

9-4-19-1 (1w); Starc 5-0-27-0; Lyon 4-0-18-1.

AUSTRALIA: D.A. Warner, S.E. Marsh, S.P.D. Smith, M.J. Clarke, A.C. Voges, S.R. Watson, B.J. Haddin, M.G. Johnson, M.A. Starc, N.M. Lyon, J.R. Hazlewood.

UMPIRES: Aleem Dar (Pakistan) and R.A. Kettleborough (England).

TV UMPIRE: I.J. Gould (England).

MATCH REFEREE: R.S. Mahanama (Sri Lanka).

Published in Dawn, June 4th, 2015

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