Australia took the upper hand by reducing the West Indies to 207-6 after a rain-affected first day of the third Test at the Sydney Cricket Ground yesterday.
The pitch lived up to its reputation as being spin-friendly, with Nathan Lyon and Steve O’Keefe sharing three wickets to justify the hosts’ decision to play two specialist spinners in a home Test for the first time since 2006.
Opener Kraigg Brathwaite made a resilient 85 to provide almost lone resistance for the tourists on a day when 15 overs were lost to passing showers.
Photo: AFP
“It is a good batting pitch, it is taking some spin,” Brathwaite said.
Carlos Brathwaite (35 not out) and Denesh Ramdin (23 not out) shared an unbeaten stand of 48 runs for the seventh wicket to lift the West Indies past 200 after winning the toss and electing to bat.
The innings fell away disappointingly after a promising opening session by the West Indies, who lost both the first two Tests of the three-Test series.
Shai Hope (9), a late replacement for Rajendra Chandrika, who injured a groin in the warm-up, was the only wicket to fall in the opening session, caught behind off Josh Hazelwood (1-35).
Kraigg Brathwaite and Darren Bravo put on 91 for the second wicket, but Australia took the initiative in the 37 minutes between the start of the second session and a rain interruption.
James Pattinson (1-35) enticed Bravo into an uncontrolled hook, which was caught by Usman Khawaja at deep square leg, and the visitors compounded the setback in near comical fashion when Marlon Samuels was run out for four off the final ball before a near two-hour rain delay.
Samuels pushed a Lyon delivery to point and set off for a run. However, Kraigg Brathwaite caused confusion as he slipped in the middle of the pitch, dropped his bat and scrambled back toward the non-strikers end, leaving Samuels stranded. Hazlewood made the short throw to Peter Nevill, who completed the run out.
Samuels has made only 35 runs, at an average of seven, in his five innings the tour.
Lyon was the pick of the bowlers, taking 2-68 off 32 overs to reach 100 Test wickets in Australia.
He bowled Jermaine Blackwood (10) after the rain delay. Blackwood misjudged the degree of turn, leaving the ball and watching it hit the top of off stump.
The off-spinner then snared the key wicket of Kraigg Brathwaite, with the ball catching him on the glove and going to Australia captain Steve Smith at slip.
“That was a pretty good wicket,” Lyon said.
O’Keefe (1-42), playing his first Test since his debut against Pakistan in 2014, had Jason Holder (1) caught smartly by Joe Burns at short leg for his first Test wicket in Australia.
“He is a quality bowler,” Lyon said. “I am a big fan of him and I love bowling in partnerships with [him]. We were able to build some pressure there and hopefully we can get our reward tomorrow.”
Bologna on Thursday advanced past Empoli to reach their first Coppa Italia final in more than half a century. Thijs Dallinga’s 87th-minute header earned Bologna a 2-1 win and his side advanced 5-1 on aggregate. Giovanni Fabbian opened the scoring for Bologna with a header seven minutes in. Then Viktor Kovalenko equalized for Empoli in the 30th minute by turning in a rebound to finish off a counterattack. Bologna won the first leg 3-0. In the May 14 final in Rome, Bologna are to face AC Milan, who eliminated city rivals Inter 4-1 on aggregate following a 3-0 win on Wednesday. Bologna last reached the
If the Wild finally break through and win their first playoff series in a decade, Minnesota’s top line likely will be the reason. They were all over the Golden Knights through the first two games of their NHL Western Conference quarter-finals series, which was 1-1 going back to Minnesota for Game 3 today. The Wild tied the series with a 5-2 win on Tuesday. Matt Boldy had three goals and an assist in the first two games, while Kirill Kaprizov produced two goals and three assists. Joel Eriksson Ek, who centers the line, has yet to get on the scoresheet. “I think the biggest
From a commemorative jersey to a stadium in his name, Argentine soccer organizers are planning a slew of tributes to their late “Captain” Pope Francis, eulogized as the ultimate team player. Tributes to the Argentine pontiff, a lifelong lover of the game, who died on Monday at the age of 88, have been peppered with soccer metaphors in his homeland. “Francisco. What a player,” the Argentine Football Federation (AFA) said, describing the first pope from Latin America and the southern hemisphere as a generational talent who “never hogged the ball” and who showed the world “the importance of having an Argentine captain,
Noelvi Marte on Sunday had seven RBIs and hit his first career grand slam with a drive off infielder Jorge Mateo, while Austin Wynn had a career-high six RBIs as the Cincinnati Reds scored their most runs in 26 years in a 24-2 rout of the Baltimore Orioles. Marte finished with five hits, including his eighth-inning homer off Mateo. Wynn hit a three-run homer in the ninth off catcher Gary Sanchez. Cincinnati scored its most runs since a 24-12 win against the Colorado Rockies on May 19, 1999, and finished with 25 hits. Baltimore allowed its most runs since a 30-3 loss to