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.”
Bayer 04 Leverkusen go into today’s match at TSG 1899 Hoffenheim stung from their first league defeat in 16 months. Leverkusen were beaten 3-2 at home by RB Leipzig before the international break, the first loss since May last year for the reigning league and cup champions. While any defeat, particularly against a likely title rival, would have disappointed coach Xabi Alonso, the way in which it happened would be most concerning. Just as they did in the Supercup against VfB Stuttgart and in the league opener to Borussia Moenchengladbach, Leverkusen scored first, but were pegged back. However, while Leverkusen rallied late to
Taiwanese badminton superstar Lee Yang broke down in tears after publicly retiring from the sport on Sunday. The two-time Olympic gold medalist held a retirement ceremony at the Taipei Arena after the final matches of the Taipei Open. Accompanied by friends, family and former badminton partners, Lee burst into tears while watching a video celebrating key moments in his professional sporting career that also featured messages from international players such as Malaysia’s Teo Ee Yi, Hong Kong’s Tang Chun-man, and Indonesia’s Mohammad Ahsan and Hendra Setiawan. “I hope that in the future when the world thinks about me, they will
If all goes well when the biggest marathon field ever gathered in Australia races 42km through the streets of Sydney on Sunday, World Marathon Majors (WMM) will soon add a seventh race to the elite series. The Sydney Marathon is to become the first race since Tokyo in 2013 to join long-established majors in New York, London, Boston, Berlin and Chicago if it passes the WMM assessment criteria for the second straight year. “We’re really excited for Sunday to arrive,” race director Wayne Larden told a news conference in Sydney yesterday. “We’re prepared, we’re ready. All of our plans look good on
When details from a scientific experiment that could have helped clear Russian figure skater Kamila Valieva landed at the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA), the leader of the organization’s reaction was unequivocal: “We have to stop that urgently,” he wrote. No mention of the test ever became public and Valieva’s defense at the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) went on without it. What effect the information could have had on Valieva’s case is unclear, but without it, the skater, then 15 years old, was eventually disqualified from the 2022 Winter Olympics after testing positive for a banned heart medication that would later
RSS