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After winning the toss and choosing to bat on a decent
batting pitch, the West Indies lost five wickets as Australia’s quicks grabbed
control of the first session at the Gabba, with Mitchell Starc taking his 350th
Test wicket.
The West Indies top order failed to adjust to the
extra bounce again, as Starc claimed three wickets, Josh Hazlewood and Pat
Cummins each took one. Five of the top six all nicking deliveries they should
have left.
The first person to fall was Kraigg Brathwaite, who
was tricked into a hesitant drive by Hazlewood, who found the edge with a ball
that swung away just a bit.
Kirk McKenzie and Tagenarine Chanderpaul then
steadied, both players appearing to be in fine form. While McKenzie hit Nathan
Lyon for six over long-on and clobbered Cummins through cover, Chanderpaul
unveiled two cut shots and a lovely on-drive. However, his aggressiveness
proved to be his undoing when he slipped while attempting to cut Cummins off
the front foot.
Before the interval, Starc came back to quickly secure
three bags. Unnecessarily, Chanderpaul attempted to stop a ball that was well
outside his off stump. However, an extra bounce gave the ball the outside edge,
and Steven Smith made the catch at second slip.
After choosing to bat first, Guyana off-spinner Kevin
Sinclair was selected to make his Test debut in place of Gudakesh Motie, and it
was a disastrous session for the West Indies. Carl Hooper, a former all-rounder
for the West Indies and Guyana, gave Sinclair his first Test cap prior to play.
Sinclair has participated in six T20Is and seven ODIs. He is the sole
alteration from the West Indies XI that was defeated in Adelaide, however he is
the fourth rookie for the team in the two-Test series.
Even though there were some COVID-19 illnesses
spreading across the camp, Australia kept to their winning strategy. Coach
Andrew McDonald and all-arounder Cameron Green tested positive yesterday,
following Travis Head’s positive test earlier in the week. Since then, Head’s
test results have been negative. Throughout the first session, Green fielded at
gully but was had to remain apart from his colleagues throughout the anthems
and when they celebrated the wickets. After recovering from a hit to the head
late in the Adelaide Test, Khawaja was also deemed fit to play after making two
excellent catches at first slip.