Key events
21st over: West Indies 45-2 (McKenzie 11, Athanaze 11) Bring on the Bison! That was the cry from the spectators. And so it has proved as Mitchell Marsh, now one of two hulking West Australian alrounders in this XI, gets his first spell of the day. He’s on the money early but so are the batters, banging balls away at will but, to their chagrin, always to fielders.
20th over: West Indies 45-2 (McKenzie 11, Athanaze 11) Interesting first 20 overs. The opening batters survived their duel with the opening bowlers but first-change Captain Fantastic Pat Cummins proved the difference again, removing both top-order men with brilliant bowling. Now, with two younger batters at the crease, we have the first whiffs of a counter-attack. Three well-struck runs from this Cummins over as this partnership builds nicely.
19th over: West Indies 42-2 (McKenzie 10, Athanaze 9) Lyon can’t find the turn he wants yet and the young batters are playingh him confidently, cracking a few but so far failing to pierce the field. A maiden ensues.
18th over: West Indies 36-2 (McKenzie 10, Athanaze 9) Good shot young man! Athanaze steps down to Cummins and confidently cracks him down the ground. Doesn’t time it as sweetly as he’d like but gets two. McKenzie picks up the clue phone and lashes Cummins for another two from the last.
17th over: West Indies 36-2 (McKenzie 8, Athanaze 5) Lyon resumes for a third over. Athanaze is a pupil of the great Brian Lara and arrives in Australia with a reputation as a clean sgtriker of the ball. He showed good signs in that last over, hoiking the Australian captain off his eyebrows. It continues the bright start to his career since his impressive 47 on debut last year.
16th over: West Indies 36-2 (McKenzie 8, Athanaze 5) New batter is Alick Athanaze, a left-handed batting alrounder from Dominica. This is his third Test and he has 112 runs at 37 from his first three innings. Make that 115 as he takes on a short ball from Cummins and hooks it for three. Good shot and a sign that these two batters are going to take on the Australian attack.
15th over: West Indies 31-2 (McKenzie 8, Athanaze 0) Counter attack! McKenzie steps down to Lyon and whacks him down the ground for four. The big Jamaican cites Chris Gayle as his cricketing hero and that was Gayle Force at it’s best – brave, powerful, entertaining. Good batting by the 23-year-old in his second Test.
14th over: West Indies 27-2 (McKenzie 4, Athanaze 0) Having proven his mortality with an attempted inswinger that went for four byes, Cummins restored his reputation in style very next ball, removing Kraigg Brathwaite with a beautiful delivery that nipped back and made a mess of the West Indies skipper’s stumps. Perfect delivery by Captain Pat and West Indies in early trouble.
WICKET! Brathwaite bowled Cummins 13 (West Indies 27-2)
Cummins strikes again as captain dismisses captain. His fourth ball was the worst of his career – a wide so wide even keeper Carey couldn’t get to it. But it was a trap. The fifth ball was a peach, fast and full and it crashed through Brathwaite’s defences and shattered middle and off stumps.
13th over: West Indies 23-1 (Brathwaite 13, McKenzie 4) Nathan Lyon enters the attack. If anyone can unriddle an Adelaide pitch in mid-January it’s a former groundskeeper at the ground with 500 wickets now to his name. Sixty of those have come here at Adelaide Oval at an average of 25.9. Few signs of spin so far but Lyon adds a maiden to that impressive record.
12th over: West Indies 23-1 (Brathwaite 13, McKenzie 4) Having secured the breakthrough his opening bowlers couldn’t achieve, Cummins returns for a second over. He has the ball moving into the lefthander, banging them in at 136kph. Brathwaite steps out tentatively to the fourth ball and taps it square for a boundary. Valuable runs for the West Indies but not convincing and Cummins knows it. He jags the next one back and the batter is lucky to get an inside edge before it thumps into his pads.
11th over: West Indies 19-1 (Brathwaite 9, McKenzie 4) Finally a run! It’s a squeaky single by the skipper off Starc after 31 dot balls. Cameron Green is still grinning after plucking that edge from the sky at gully. He is averaging one catch per Test now and already has pundits naming him among Australia’s greatest gully fielders. Kirk McKenzie gets himself off the mark with a flicked four off his pads. This kid can bat…
WICKET! Chanderpaul c Green b Cummins 6 (West Indies 14-1)
Cummins does it again! After 30 scoreless balls, he draws Chanderpaul across and back. But the batter is pinned in the crease and reaches too far and catches a big edge. It’s a beautiful flying catch to big Cameron Green in the gully. Great ball, great catch!
10th over: West Indies 14-0 (Brathwaite 8, Chanderpaul 6) Here comes Cummins! With the scoreboard going nowhere but no breakthroughs yet, the Australian captain has taken the ball. He has a habit of making things happen…
9th over: West Indies 14-0 (Brathwaite 8, Chanderpaul 6) This Adelaide Oval is so green it looks like painted tartan. So far it’s provided a little more early in-swing for Mitchell Starc but a little less pace. That inswing gets Brathwaite hopping. He knows how to bat long periods does the skipper. He has 12 Test centuries to his name at 34.8 but 29 fifties so a low conversion rate. He can’t find a run this over either. That’s five consecutive maidens!
8th over: West Indies 14-0 (Brathwaite 8, Chanderpaul 6) Hazlewood rumbles in for a fourth over. Unlike his new-ball buddy Starc, who relies on pace and swing, Hazlewood’s game is accuracy and guile. He delivers it in spades in this over to ensure another maiden and 25 consecutive dot balls.
7th over: West Indies 14-0 (Brathwaite 8, Chanderpaul 6) A thick edge! But it doesn’t carry to new first slipper Usman Khawaja. Starc shot it in straight and Brathwaite stepped out with an indecisive stroke that caught a healthy edge that fell short of both Alex Carey and Khawaja. With David Warner retired, this is a new look catching cordon. Steve Smith is at second slip, with Mitch Marsh moving into third and Cameron ‘Buckethands’ Green in his usual gully spot. That’s a third consecutive maiden. The openers have survived the first half hour but they’re pinned down and living dangerously.
6th over: West Indies 14-0 (Brathwaite 8, Chanderpaul 6) Chanderpaul resumes against Hazlewood. His stance isn’t pretty, very front-on with a backfoot pointing at square leg and a front foot that has to flash a long way across to meet the pitch of the ball. It’s not quite the bizarre crabby crouch that won his father a Test average over 50, but it’s definitely not one out of the coaching handbook either. Pretty or nay, it doesn’t yield runs. Another maiden.
5th over: West Indies 14-0 (Brathwaite 8, Chanderpaul 6) Starc is in good rhythm now, sending his third over in at 144kph and he draws a jumping jab of a defensive stroke from Brathwaite which whistles past the edge. It unnerves him sufficiently to ensure a maiden plays out.
4th over: West Indies 14-0 (Brathwaite 8, Chanderpaul 6) More luck! Hazlewood angled an inswinger into Brathwaite and it caught an inside edge, just missing the stumps and skidding away for another lucky boundary. Good bowling by the Bendemeer Bullet! Brathwaite flicks a single off the pads to run a single. Big shout for lbw on the final ball but no one’s interetested beyond Hazlewood, least of all the umpires.
3rd over: West Indies 9-0 (Brathwaite 3, Chanderpaul 6) Starc gets Brathwaite hopping with the first but sprays the second down legside. He connects handsomely with a drive down the ground to the third and it Labuschagne hauls it in under just shy of the rope at the scoreboard. Chanderpaul tries to leave the next one but too late! It catches the descending blade, flies off the toe of the bat and balloons over slips for a streaky four. He’s smiling about it but that could have been disastrous.
2nd over: West Indies 2-0 (Brathwaite 0, Chanderpaul 2) Chanderpaul gets his chance now against Josh Hazlewood and he prods at a straight second ball and works it fine for two runs to open his, and his side’s, account. Chanderpaul is of course a name very familiar to Australian cricket fans. His father Shivnarine played 164 Tests for West Indies and scored 30 centuries. His 27-year-old son has played just 8 Tests but has a double century to his name already. He’d love to do his Dad proud today. No more runs from this over.
1st over: West Indies 0-0 (Brathwaite 0, Chanderpaul 0) Starc wafts the first few full and fast past the off stump. Early signs of in-swing here so little wonder 88-Test veteran Braithwaite watches the first four fly by until stepping down for the Test’s first contact between willow and leather. Given Starc’s record for striking in the first over, that sedate maiden over is an early win for the tourists.
West Indies captain Kraigg Brathwaite and Tagenarine Chanderpaul have the pads on and are walking out into the middle. Mitchell Starc has the new ball in his big mitts at the Cathedral End. It’s the first time since 1980-81 Australia has won the toss and opted to bowl so Pat Cummins continues to defy convention with his victories at the toss. Here we go…
The teams are on the field for the anthems and there’s a healthy Adelaide crowd standing reverently for the Welcome to Country from Kaurna Nation man Karl Winder Tefler. Cloudy skies overhead but they’ll burn off quick I fancy. New No 4 Cameron Green is grinning like a kid at Christmas as he gets his huge wingspan around his teammates for Advance Australia Fair.
Interesting call from Pat Cummins to bowl when history dictates you don the pads first at the traditional batting paradise of Adelaide. That decision seems to have been made after a glance at the lavish greenery on the centre square and curator Damian Hough’s promise of a fast and bouncy pitch
Of course this Adelaide Test is being played a few weeks later than usual. Since 1998, Adelaide has hosted Test cricket in November or December with one exception and it has been a day-night Test since 2015. However, the Gabba in Brisbane has the honour of the pink ball Test this year so Adelaide has a January Test. How will that affect this wicket I wonder?
“We know that in January the evaporation is higher, so the temperatures are higher and we know it will dry out more,” Hough said in the lead-up. “From the curators’ side of things, you get the real baking (which) should get it really rock hard which hopefully equates to better pace in the pitch than you would get in a November Test match.”
If true, Australia’s bowlers could cause carnage in this first session. But it might also prove a boon to West Indies speedster Shamar Joseph, who gave the speed gun a few scares during the Cricket Australia XI warm-up.
Here’s how the XIs will line up…
Australia 1 Usman Khawaja, 2 Steven Smith, 3 Marnus Labuschagne, 4 Cameron Green, 5 Travis Head, 6 Mitchell Marsh 7 Alex Carey (wk), 8 Mitchell Starc, 9 Pat Cummins (capt), 10 Nathan Lyon, 11 Josh Hazlewood
West Indies 1 Kraigg Brathwaite, 2 Tagenarine Chanderpaul, 3 Kirk McKenzie, 4 Alick Athanaze, 5 Kavem Hodge, 6 Justin Greaves, 7 Joshua Da Silva (wk), 8 Alzarri Joseph, 9 Kemar Roach, 10 Gudakesh Motie, 11 Shamar Joseph
Three Test debutants for the visitors in Kavem Hodge, Justin Greaves and Shamar Joseph. They each received their Test caps this morning from West Indies batting great Brian Lara and former quick Ian Bishop. “I want to lead from the front and let these guys follow,” says captain Braithwaite.
Good luck to them all.
Australia have won the toss and will bowl
Pat Cummins calls correctly and opts to unleash his pace attack on this raw West Indies batting line up. Interestingly, captain Kraigg Brathwaite says he would have batted first anyway so everyone’s happy.
Preamble
Greetings cricket fans! Welcome to Adelaide for the Guardian’s over-by-over coverage of the first Test in this two-match series between Australia and West Indies for the famous Frank Worrell Trophy. Angus Fontaine here to steer you through the opening sessions with Geoff Lemon taking you to stumps.
This will be the 119th Test fought out by these two mighty cricket nations. Of the 118 clashes since 1930-31, Australia have won 60 and West Indies 32, with 25 draws and one famous tie in 1960-61, the first in Test cricket history and a contest (and series) still considered by Wisden the G.O.A.T.
That breathtaking, crowdpleasing showdown was widely lauded for reinventing Test cricket for the modern age. Although Australia won it, West Indies got their revenge in 1964-65, their first ever series win over Australia and the spark for the era of dominance that followed. The men from the Caribbean would win every Frank Worrell Trophy from 1977 until May 1995, when Steve Waugh’s double-century (and twin Mark’s 126) at Sabina Park, Kingston won back an ascendancy Australia have held ever since.
This West Indies side isn’t expected to reclaim those former glories. They arrived in Australia ranked eighth in the world and with seven uncapped players in their squad of 15 (and only four survivors from the series they lost 2-0 last summer). But cool cat captain Kraigg Brathwaite and fast bowling deputy Alzarri Joseph deputy have great faith in veteran quick Kemar Roach and high hopes for a fresh-faced batting lineup that showed great promise in their warm-up game last week.
Pat Cummins’ Australians arrive in Adelaide hot from their 3-0 sweep of Pakistan and still aglow from the feats of 2023 – an Ashes retention, victory in the World Test Championship and winning the ODI World Cup. However, it’s a fresh start for them too, with this the first Test in the post-David Warner era. Matthew Renshaw comes into the squad, Cameron Green is recalled to bat at No 4 and Steve Smith adds a new feather to his baggy green by stepping up as opening batter for the first time.
So there’s intrigue aplenty and an exciting day lies ahead of us. It’s been hot, damn hot, in Adelaide. But the forecast today is for sunshine, clear skies and temperatures in the low-to-mid twenties. Perfect weather for cricket and a glorious stage for this Test at the beautiful Adelaide Oval.
Buckle ‘em up and batten ‘em down. We’ll be back with the teams and coin toss shortly…