Right, that’s about it from me. The second Test begins, as you well know, on Boxing Day at the MCG. Thanks for your company throughout the Test. Merry Christmas!
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And here’s Steve Smith
“Yeah that was a good win. Adam’s played a lot of cricket and understands the game really well; he’s a great man to have around the group. Joshy Hazlewood has really stepped up and led the attack beautifully, and it was an outstanding effort today from James Pattinson. Nathan Lyon bowled beautifully yesterday, he’s been a quality performer for a long time.”
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Here’s the West Indies captain Jason Holder
“We didn’t start well enough, we were pretty indisciplined and that carried on throughout the first day. After that we were always trying to catch up. We have to exercise patience a lot more when we bowl, and we’ll be a lot more successful. Credit to the way Darren Bravo and Kraigg Brathwaite played, but unfortunately most of the batsmen didn’t really get in. The only way you can make runs is if you’re in the middle. It’s important we stay together to help each other through this tough time.”
The Man of the Match is Adam Voges
“It was a pretty special partnership with Shaun. It’s probably quite fitting that Bradman and Ponsford still hold the record. I’m just enjoying every minute of it, I wear the Baggy Green as much as I can, I probably wear it round the house as well! We’re gelling really nicely as a team now.”
Since you asked, Brathwaite ended with 63.51 per cent of the runs in that innings, which puts him fourth on the all-time list behind Charles Bannerman, Michael Slater and VVS Laxman.
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Australia lead the series 1-0 You have to feel a bit for Brathwaite, who deserved a century. He was racing towards it before Hazlewood, realising that he had gone into one-day mode, produced a superb delivery that just trimmed top the top of the bails.
Hazlewood has been terrific, with seven cheap wickets in the match, though the Match Award will surely go to Adam Voges. Australia have marmalised the West Indies. The scorecard says they won by an innings and 212 runs, but in reality they won by 16 wickets and 212 runs.
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WICKET! West Indies 148 all out (Brathwaite b Hazlewood 94). AUSTRALIA WIN BY AN INNINGS AND 212 RUNS
A deliberate uppercut off Hazlewood brings Brathwaite his fifth boundary in eight balls, but he’s gone now, bowled by a brilliant off-cutter from Hazlewood!
36th over: West Indies 142-8 (Brathwaite 88, Warrican 2) Brathwaite gets four more with a high-class back-foot drive for four off Marsh. The next ball zips back in, but Brathwaite is good enough to deliberately work it between slip and gully for four. A nice flick through midwicket makes it three consecutive boundaries. Make that four consecutive boundaries! He slams a cut to the fence, and could yet reach his century. Nineteen from the over, so he’ll keep the strike.
35th over: West Indies 123-8 (Brathwaite 69, Warrican 6) Warrican clips Hazlewood for two to get off the mark and then edges for four next ball. Ach, there’s no chance of the record for Brathwaite. But he should become the first West Indian to carry his bat in a Test since Dessie Haynes in 1993, and only the third overall: Haynes did it twice and Frank Worrell once.
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WICKET! West Indies 117-8 (Taylor c Pattinson b Hazlewood 12)
Taylor’s breezy slog ends with a mishit drive that loops high to mid-off. Another wicket for Hazlewood, who has bowled extremely well to the tailenders in this spell. Australia need one more wicket; Kragg Brathwaite needs a miracle to get a century and/or Charles Bannerman’s record.
34th over: West Indies 113-7 (Brathwaite 69, Taylor 8) Taylor is dropped at mid-off, a tricky chance to the flying substitute Nathan Coulter-Nile off the new bowler Mitchell Marsh. In the end he dived too far and it hit him on the bottom of the cupped hands. Brathwaite drives Marsh for two, so he now has 61 per cent of the runs in this innings. He needs Taylor to get out and Warrican to make a diligent 44-ball 0 while Brathwaite gets to a hundred.
33rd over: West Indies 110-7 (Brathwaite 67, Taylor 7) Brathwaite takes another single, which means he has 67 out of 103 – or 65.04 per cent of the runs. The record is Charles Bannerman’s 67.34 in the inaugural Test match in 1876-77. But then Taylor scuffs a boundary to fine leg and drives three more through the covers. Ach! Play for your partner, Jerome. More importantly, play for the statgasm!
32nd over: West Indies 102-7 (Brathwaite 66, Taylor 0) Brathwaite cuts consecutive fours off two unusually poor deliveries from Siddle. They were beautiful shots, though. Brathwaite could threaten the oldest Test record of all: the highest percentage of runs in a completed innings. He gets three more with a solid crack through the covers.
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31st over: West Indies 91-7 (Brathwaite 55, Taylor 0) Jerome Taylor is the new batsman. “When Roach took that blow to the forearm, a blow even I could see clearly foreshadowed a not out decision, I was surprised the commentator called it ‘good umpiring’,” says Phil Withall. “If calling the obvious is good umpiring then we’re in serious trouble.”
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WICKET! West Indies 91-7 (Roach c Nevill b Hazlewood 3)
Hazlewood’s emphatic working-over of Roach comes to its logical conclusion. Roach, unsettled by a number of very good short balls, tries a flap-hook and can only edge it through to Nevill. That was brilliant bowling from Hazlewood across two or three overs. Roach had nowhere to go. The wicket wasn’t just in the post, it had been sent by recorded delivery. Australia need two more to complete a crushing win.
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30th over: West Indies 91-6 (Brathwaite 55, Roach 3) Brathwaite flashes the new bowler Siddle through backward point for four more.
29th over: West Indies 87-6 (Brathwaite 51, Roach 3) Another brutish short ball from Hazlewood to Roach ends in the hands of the man at leg gully. Australia thought it was out, Marais Erasmus didn’t, and Steve Smith chose not to review. It was the right decision: the ball hit Roach on the forearm.
28th over: West Indies 87-6 (Brathwaite 52, Roach 3) Brathwaite drives Lyon for four to reach a calmly defiant half-century. Well played.
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27th over: West Indies 83-6 (Brathwaite 47, Roach 3) Hazlewood is back in place of Pattinson, who might switch ends. He is a forensic interrogator of improper techniques, so you’d expect him to bowl well to tailenders. Roach does really well to repel a vicious bouncer that takes the glove and drops safely on the leg side.
26th over: West Indies 81-6 (Brathwaite 47, Roach 2) Lyon goes around the wicket to Brathwaite, who chips him gently over midwicket for six! What a gorgeous shot that was; he almost underhit it.
25th over: West Indies 73-6 (Brathwaite 37, Roach 2) Pattinson draws a thick edge from Brathwaite, who softened his hands enough to get the ball down and through the slips for three. Then Roach gets off the mark with an iffy, uppish push through the covers.
24th over: West Indies 66-6 (Brathwaite 34, Roach 0) Brathwaite cuts a single off Lyon’s final delivery to keep the strike.
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23rd over: West Indies 65-6 (Brathwaite 33, Roach 0) Roach does well to get on top on another nasty lifter from Pattinson. He’s not the type of bowler you’d want to face on a pitch of uneven bounce, such his speed and nastiness. It makes you realise just how miserable it must have been for the England batsmen who were ambushed by Thommo on that corrugated Gabba wicket in 1974-75.
22nd over: West Indies 65-6 (Brathwaite 33, Roach 0) Nathan Lyon comes on for Mitchell Marsh, and Brathwaite decides to dump his first ball over mid-off for four. Excellent shot.
21st over: West Indies 61-6 (Brathwaite 29, Roach 0) That’s Pattinson’s fourth five-for in only 14 Tests. As we said earlier, he has the precious ability to rifle through teams on a good day. He could easily end up with a very cheap seven- or eight-for here.
WICKET! West Indies 60-6 (Holder c Nevill b Pattinson 17)
James Pattinson picks up a five-for! He struck with the second ball of a new spell, snaring the captain Jason Holder for 17. It was a soft dismissal, with Holder deflecting a nothing delivery down the leg side to Peter Nevill, but Pattinson should not and will not care about that. He has five for 19 in just 5.2 overs!
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20th over: West Indies 60-5 (Brathwaite 29, Holder 17) Brathwaite cuts Marsh confidently for four. Marsh and Siddle are bowling well enough, but the batsmen look sufficiently comfortable – this partnership has lasted nearly 10 overs, for heaven’s sake – that it might be time to see if Pattinson can rip them from their bubble.
19th over: West Indies 57-5 (Brathwaite 26, Holder 17) These two are playing well, carefully attempting to construct their innings. What do they think this is, a Test match?
18th over: West Indies 50-5 (Brathwaite 23, Holder 13) Marsh slips one past Brathwaite’s outside edge, the abiding memory of an otherwise uneventful over. I’ll take that delivery to the grave.
17th over: West Indies 48-5 (Brathwaite 23, Holder 12) Holder survives an optimistic LBW appeal from Siddle, with an inside edge saving him, and then he drives not far wide of the diving Lyon at short cover. Instead the ball races away for four. Holder does look vulnerable to the ball that ducks back into him, and later in the over he gets another big inside edge, this time for a single.
Today first time Aus has enforced follow-on at home since 2009-10 vs Windies at Gabba. Declined to 5 times. #AusvWI pic.twitter.com/BWzSdOQUip
— Jesse Hogan (@Jesse_Hogan) December 12, 2015
16th over: West Indies 43-5 (Brathwaite 23, Holder 7) Mitchell Marsh continues, and is worked off the pads for two by Brathwaite. It’s a low-key start to the session, though you suspect that once Australia break this partnership they could wrap things up pretty quickly.
15th over: West Indies 38-5 (Brathwaite 21, Holder 4) Hello again. Time for the afternoon session, with Peter Siddle opening the bowling. Jason Holder drives the first ball confidently through mid-on for three. No other business.
Since you asked, in reference to Brathwaite, the lowest score by an opener carrying his bat is Bernard Tancred’s 26. Just look at this scorecard.
Lunch: West Indies 35-5 (trail by 325 runs)
That was an adequate session for Australia, who took eight wickets for 51 runs in 19 overs. The star was James Pattinson, who was at his unpleasant best in taking four quick second-innings wickets.
I’m off to bury my face in a vat of iced coffee but will be back with you for the afternoon session. See you in half an hour!
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RAIN STOPS PLAY + LUNCH
14th over: West Indies 35-5 (Brathwaite 21, Holder 1) Brathwaite cuts Marsh for four, another nice stroke. Those, in fact, will be the last runs before lunch because it has started to rain and the covers are coming on. There were only 10 minutes of the session remaining, so an early lunch will be taken.
13th over: West Indies 31-5 (Brathwaite 17, Holder 1) Although that decision on the Brathwaite review did not affect the match, it needs to be looked at again because it seemed like there might have been some kind of technical glitch. Imagine if that happened with 10 runs needed in an Ashes decider. Twitter would explore, and the world would be a happier place. Anyway, a maiden from Siddle to Holder, who looks like he wants to hang around and bat properly. What an oddball.
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12th over: West Indies 31-5 (Brathwaite 17, Holder 1) Brathwaite could carry his bat here. Not that it would be much of a badge of honour if the team are bowled out in 20 overs. The last West Indian to carry his bat in a Test was Desmond Haynes in 1993. That was an unbelievable innings in the context of a series between maybe the two best teams in the world.
@garynaylor999 @robsmyth0 The only consolation is the fact that, presumably, this shit is costing Ch 9 heaps in advertising revenue!
— Messy Jez (@messyjez) December 12, 2015
WICKET! West Indies 30-5 (Ramdin c Warner b M Marsh 4)
Oh dear. This is just feeble. Mitchell Marsh comes into the attack and strikes with his first ball when Ramdin slices a loose drive straight to Warner at gully. Yeah Dinesh talk nah.
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11th over: West Indies 30-4 (Brathwaite 17, Ramdin 4) That did look a little strange on the screen, because it seemed as if more than 50 per cent of the ball was hitting the stumps. Will that be as pivotal as the Nathan Lyon reprieve in the Adelaide Test? Clue: no.
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REVIEW! West Indies 30-4 (Brathwaite not out 17)
Siddle replaces Hazlewood, and his first ball is timed through extra cover for three by Ramdin. The next one keeps a bit low; uneven bounce is becoming an issue, even though the match isn’t at the halfway point. Well, the scheduled halfway point. The match could be over pretty quickly, and we have an Australian review here.
Brathwaite pushed around a straight delivery that thudded into the pad, and was given not out by Marais Erasmus. This looks really close. Replays show it was hitting the top of the leg bail, but it’s umpire’s call and therefore not out. “Ridiculous,” says Shane Warne. “That’s smashing into the stumps.”
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10th over: West Indies 27-4 (Brathwaite 17, Ramdin 1) Here comes the hat-trick ball. He’s up to the wicket, he bowls ... and Brathwaite pushes him for a single. The replays of the Samuels show that the ball took the shoulder of the bat and then hit him on the bicep before looping to gully. It really did lift viciously. He almost has a fifth wicket when Ramdin clunks a loose drive in the air but wide of cover for a single.
9th over: West Indies 25-4 (Brathwaite 16, Ramdin 0) Shane Warne has already congratulated Pattinson on his hat-trick. Before that happens, we have the formality of an over from Hazlewood. There’s a strangled shout for LBW against Ramdin, with the ball clearly going over the top. West Indies aren’t just going to lose this game by an innings; they’re going to lose it by 16 wickets.
I think our batsmen have accepted the inevitable when there is an opportunity to bat and take something positive away from the game #AUSvWI
— Brian Lara (@BrianLara) December 12, 2015
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8th over: West Indies 24-4 (Brathwaite 15, Ramdin 0) Pattinson’s figures are 4-1-17-4, and he’ll have a hat-trick ball in a few minutes’ time.
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WICKET! West Indies 24-4 (Blackwood b Pattinson 0)
Baaaaahhhhhd him! Pattinson has four wickets, and he’s on a hat-trick. Blackwood has been cleaned up first ball by a delivery that kept low to hit the off stump. That was a nightmare to get first up, and I’m not sure Blackwood - or Samuels the ball before - could really have done much. That’s a pair for Blackwood.
The referee should stop the fight to avoid further punishment @robsmyth0
— Gary Naylor (@garynaylor999) December 12, 2015
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WICKET! West Indies 24-3 (Samuels c Warner b Pattinson 3)
It’s probably fair to say James Pattinson is back. This is his third wicket of the innings, and the best of the lot. It was a nasty ball that lifted from a length to take the shoulder of Samuels’ bat and loop up in the air. Warner backpedalled from gully to take a comfortable catch above his head.
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7th over: West Indies 22-2 (Brathwaite 15, Samuels 1) Hazlewood cuts Brathwaite in half with a beautiful off-cutter that just misses the off stump.
6th over: West Indies 20-2 (Brathwaite 14, Samuels 0) That was the last ball of the over. Marlon Samuels, the only to man to literally score a Test hundred in his sleep, is the new batsman. That was a bit of a loose, leaden-footed stroke from Bravo, though it’s hard to be too critical after his brilliant first innings.
WICKET! West Indies 20-2 (Bravo b Pattinson 4)
Pattinson isn’t bowling at top pace, around 138kph, but that’s understandable in the circumstances. An inviting short ball is swaggered to the extra-cover boundary by Bravo. He had so much time to play that shot, and not just because Pattinson is slightly down on pace.
He didn’t have enough time to play the next ball though - he’s gone! It was full, inviting the drive, and Bravo dragged it back onto his stumps. That’s a huge wicket, for Australia, for Pattinson and most importantly for those those of us dreaming of a three-day finish so we don’t have to work tomorrow night.
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5th over: West Indies 16-1 (Brathwaite 14, Bravo 0) Hazlewood bangs away on a length, and the result is a maiden to Brathwaite. He’s going to take 400 Test wickets, isn’t he? He’s just got it. I know he had a poor Ashes but a lot of great fast bowlers struggled on their first tour of England, such are the unique conditions. There was a time when England fans thought Glenn McGrath was useless, and look how that worked out.
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4th over: West Indies 16-1 (Brathwaite 14, Bravo 0) Brathwaite cuts Pattinson in the air but safely for four. That was a strange shot, almost a wristy flick – except it went through backward point. He gets another boundary two balls later with a lovely drive through extra cover. Fetch that.
3rd over: West Indies 5-1 (Brathwaite 5, Bravo 0) Three from the over, all to Brathwaite. That’s it. Look I said that’s it, let’s just move on.
2nd over: West Indies 2-1 (Brathwaite 2, Bravo 0) The new batsman is Darren, who Bravo had a break of 16 minutes between innings. Mark Taylor reckons he just should have opened, as his namesake Peter did at Karachi in 1988.
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WICKET! West Indies 2-1 (Chandrika c Smith b Pattinson 9)
James Pattinson will share the new ball. He was expensive in the first innings, when he understandably tried a bit too hard. Once he gets a wicket he’ll relax, and when he’s relaxed he has the capacity to run through any batting line-up.
And he has struck third ball! That was a fine delivery, pretty full and moving away just enough to take the edge as Chandrika pushed forward with hard hands. It flew towards second slip, where Steve Smith took a terrific low catch. What a lovely moment for Pattinson, who gives fresh air a bunch of fives to celebrate his first Test wicket for 18 months.
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1st over: West Indies 2-0 (Brathwaite 2, Chandrika 0) Hazlewood, who took four for 45 in the first innings, starts with a yorker that is dug out by Brathwaite, who then gets off the mark with a push to leg for two.
“I watched Paul Allott bat in an Allan Lamb benefit match against a West Indian XI in Cornwall, in the late 1980s,” says Nick Fisher. “The Windies were playing against a team of (very well padded up) locals. Lambie spent most of the time walking around the boundary with a glass of red, working the crowd and signing autographs. Unremarkable, except that my friend who’d had rather a lot to drink after celebrating the end of our A-levels, and, for reasons best known to himself, shouted something unrepeatable to Allott as he went to bat. Allott was unamused by this, and was out for a duck shortly after. I feel as though we got off on the wrong foot. If you’re reading this Paul, I send my heartfelt apologies.”
As with Mark Renton’s final hits, there’s unrepeatable and unrepeatable. Come on, which was this?
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Australia have enforced the follow-on
No surprise there. West Indies will bat again in 10 minutes’ time, needing 360 to avoid an innings defeat. As James Brayshaw says on Channel 9, Bravo might be advised to keep his pads on.
@robsmyth0 Bravo's record's disparity between home and away is an indictment of the pudding pitches served up in the Caribbean.
— Gary Naylor (@garynaylor999) December 12, 2015
Yes, good point that. Mind you if he’d played in the 2009 series v England his average at home would be just as good.
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WICKET! West Indies 223 all out (Bravo c Lyon b Siddle 108)
Bravo has gone, slicing a huge drive to point. That’s pretty selfless actually, because he could easily have applied some red ink to his innings. It was a marvellous knock: 108 from 177 balls with 20 fours.
@robsmyth0 Poor turnout - how much else is there to do in Tassie on a Saturday?
— Gary Naylor (@garynaylor999) December 11, 2015
Erm, Hobart is epic.
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69th over: West Indies 221-8 (Bravo 106, Warrican 2) The hat-trick ball from Hazlewood, to Warrican, deflects off something and loops just over the leaping Burns at short leg. There’s all kinds of excitement in the Channel 9 commentary box, though I don’t think it hit anything other than the thigh pad. In fairness, the trembling of knees among grown men was understandable: at first sight it looked like it might have taken the glove or inside edge as well. Hazlewood then tries to york Warrican, who clips the ball nicely through midwicket for a couple.
Shane Warne, in reference to Bravo’s pitch-kissing celebration, is talking about Dumb and Dumber. Insert your own ‘But I thought Channel 9 had three commentators these days?’ joke here. I quite like their commentary team, though my inbox tells me that isn’t necessarily a common view. Why can’t we just all get along?
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68th over: West Indies 219-8 (Bravo 106, Warrican 0) Bravo slaughters Siddle’s final ball through point for four, which means Hazlewood will have a hat-trick ball at Warrican.
“It must be hard for Bravo,” says Phil Withall. “He’s played an exceptional innings, one worthy of a better outcome, yet has to watch as those around him flounder. It’s like Ronaldo playing for Blackpool.” There’s something really admirable about excellence in a complete shower – think Robin Smith in the 1989 Ashes, or Rahul Dravid against England in 2011. It would be so easy just to turn it in.
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67th over: West Indies 215-8 (Bravo 102, Warrican 0) Hazlewood has bounced back superbly from that difficult Ashes. He loves playing the West Indies too: three Tests, 16 wickets at an average of 9.31.
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WICKET! West Indies 213-8 (Taylor b Hazlewood 0)
Two in two balls! Taylor falls for a golden duck, chopping an off-cutter back onto the stumps. Hazlewood is on a hat-trick, although that was the last ball of the over so he might not get the chance. With Shannon Gabriel injured, Australia only need one more wicket to wrap up the innings.
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WICKET! West Indies 213-7 (Roach c Nevill b Hazlewood 31)
Kemar Roach has gone, caught behind off Josh Hazlewood. It was an immaculate line and length, and Roach thin-edged a defensive push through to the keeper. Roach played really well, surviving 94 balls for his 31.
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Statgasm That’s Bravo’s seventh Test hundred, and six of them have come overseas. Indeed none of the great West Indian batsmen of the last 80-odd years – not even his cousin – have a better average in Tests abroad than Bravo’s 54.53.
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A century for Bravo!
66th over: West Indies 213-6 (Bravo 102, Roach 31) The players are out, with only five minutes lost. The growling vegan, Peter Siddle, will open the bowling. His second ball is too full and Bravo thumps a cover-drive for four to move to 98. And there’s his hundred! He squirts Siddle through backward point for two more and punches the air in celebration. It’s been a lovely innings, and there is warm applause around the ground. All Test centuries are special, but those that you score as an away batsman in Australia mean more than most.
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Ach, it’s raining. The covers are on, though it should only be a passing shower. Obviously I haven’t a clue about the weather – I’m 10,000 miles away FFsake - but I’m parroting what Paul Allott just said on Sky.
Preamble
Hello. The hardest position to fill in a Test team is often No3. For this West Indies side, it’s been the easiest. Darren Bravo is a proper cricketer, of class and substance, as he showed again yesterday with a fine 94 not out in his first Test innings in Australia. Plagiarism is an unavoidable consequence both of digital life and a culture of uniform individuality, but occasionally it’s a force for good: Bravo’s unashamed tribute to his cousin Brian Lara has served him pretty well.
West Indies will resume today on 207 for six, still 177 away from avoiding the follow-on. They are likely to lose this game, but then we knew that beforehand. This tour is not one for the myopic. The role of players like Bravo is so important – not just to restore pride and to save or win the occasional Test, but to give hope for the future.
Lara took a shortcut to greatness after scoring 277 at Sydney in 1992-93. Bravo may never become that good, but he’s somebody whose name you can write on the teamsheet in your strongest ink. And as we know from Allan Border’s mid-80s Australia, building a team from rock bottom can only be done in stages.
The process brings to mind the great IKEA scene in Fight Club. “Whatever else happens, I’ve got that sofa problem handled.” (As it turned he hadn’t, because the daft bugger burned his own condo down, but that’s not the point here.) West Indies have got the No3 problem handled, and Jason Holder is a keeper in a different sense of the word. There are no certainties in this life, but you would think these are two players who West Indies can build a team around.
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Rob will be here shortly to take you through the first two sessions today, so while he makes his way to his keyboard, catch up on what happened on day two.
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