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.”
Freddie Freeman homered and drove in four runs, Shohei Ohtani also went deep and Roki Sasaki earned his first major league win as the Los Angeles Dodgers beat the Atlanta Braves 10-3 on Saturday night for their seventh straight victory. The Dodgers have won the first two games of the series to improve to 5-0 against Atlanta this year. Los Angeles’ three-game sweep at home early in the season left the Braves 0-7. Sasaki allowed three runs and six hits over five innings. The 23-year-old right-hander gave up a home run to Ozzie Albies, but received plenty of offensive support in his
INTER AWAIT: Superb saves by PSG ’keeper Gianluigi Donnarumma inspired the victory, as Arsenal were punished for misses, including one by Bukayo Saka Arsenal on Wednesday fell short on the big stage again as their painful UEFA Champions League semi-final exit against Paris Saint-Germain left Mikel Arteta to rue his club’s failure to provide him with enough attacking options. Arteta’s side were unable to reach the Champions League final for the first time in 19 years as PSG clinched a tense 2-1 win at Parc des Princes. Trailing 1-0 from last week’s first leg in London, the Gunners made a blistering start to the second leg, but could not convert their chances as Gianluigi Donnarumma’s superb saves inspired PSG’s 3-1 aggregate victory. Arsenal were punished for
Bayern Munich on Sunday were crowned German champions for the 34th time, giving striker Harry Kane his first major trophy, after second-placed Bayer 04 Leverkusen drew 2-2 at SC Freiburg. Bayern’s 3-3 draw at RB Leipzig on Saturday, when the Bavarians came from two goals down to take the lead before conceding a stoppage-time equalizer, meant defending Bundesliga champions Leverkusen needed to win at Freiburg to delay the title party. Leverkusen were two goals down before scoring twice in the final 10 minutes, but Xabi Alonso’s side could not find a third, as Bayern reclaimed the title at the first attempt after
THRILLER: Raphinha gave Barca a 3-2 lead with two minutes remaining of regular time, but Francesco Acerbi equalized the game in the second minute of added time Davide Frattesi on Tuesday fired Inter into the UEFA Champions League final with an extra-time winner that gave the Italians a stunning 4-3 triumph over Barcelona, 7-6 on aggregate. Italy midfielder Frattesi won a tie for the ages under a downpour in Milan when he lashed home in the 99th minute, sending a packed and rocking San Siro wild with joy. Simone Inzaghi’s team will face either Arsenal or Paris Saint-Germain at the end of this month in Munich, Germany, where they would feel they have a great chance to be crowned kings of Europe for a fourth time after
RSS