Cummins brace puts Australia on top at lunch against West Indies / Photo: Izhar KHAN - AFP
Cummins brace puts Australia on top at lunch against West Indies
Australian captain Pat Cummins took two wickets to help the home side dominate the West Indies in the first session of the opening Test at Adelaide on Wednesday.
At lunch, the West Indies were 64-3 after being sent in on a cool and overcast morning, with Kirk McKenzie on 26 and debutant Kavem Hodge on one.
Australia had gone into the Test making only one change from the team that beat Pakistan 3-0 earlier in the summer.
Steve Smith moved to the top of the Aussie order in place of the retired David Warner and Cameron Green was back at number four.
It was a different story for the West Indies, who gave debuts to all-rounders Hodge and Justin Greaves and fast bowler Shamar Joseph.
With such inexperience to follow, much relied on the opening pair of captain Kraigg Brathwaite and Tagenarine Chanderpaul.
The West Indies openers began sedately, content to leave as many balls as possible.
Cummins brought himself on in the 10th over with immediate results, a fuller ball enticing Chanderpaul into an expansive drive, only to slice the ball to gully where Green used all his height to take a comfortable catch.
Cummins then removed Brathwaite with a beautiful ball that was angled in, then straightened and took the top of off stump to leave the West Indies 27-2 after the first hour.
Alick Athanaze and McKenzie then steadied the ship and looked to take the West Indies to lunch at two down, but with the score on 52, Athanaze opted to leave a Josh Hazlewood delivery only to see the ball cannon into his off stump.
It was Hazlewood's 250th wicket in Test cricket, meaning the four main bowlers in Australia's attack -- Hazlewood, Mitchell Starc, Cummins and Nathan Lyon -- have all reached that milestone.
F.Stewart--EWJ
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