HOBART—Rookie left-arm spinner Jomel Warrican shone briefly but West Indies bowlers were put to the sword as Adam Voges and Shaun Marsh pummelled unbeaten centuries in a triple-century partnership on the opening day of the First Test here yesterday.
Asked to field first at Bellerive Oval, the Caribbean side leaked runs from the start and Australia capitalised to pile up an ominous 438 for three, with Voges finishing on a career-best 174 not out and Marsh, 139 not out. The pair have so far added a massive 317 for the fourth wicket – Australia’s third-highest partnership of all time against West Indies for any wicket.
The right-handed Voges counted 19 fours in a sparkling knock that has come from only 204 balls en route to his third Test hundred while Marsh also gathered his third century at this level off 205 deliveries with 12 fours. West Indies bowlers were ragged and lacked the discipline necessary to contain the Aussie batsmen, and the performance provided a bad omen for the tourists ahead of Friday’s second day.
Ironically, the partnership materialised after West Indies reduced the Aussies to 121 for three at lunch, when Warrican snapped up two quick wickets to check the rampant scoring. Thanks to loose bowling up front from the Windies seamers, David Warner and Joe Burns put on a rollicking 75 for the first wicket at nearly seven runs an over.
Warner struck 64 from 61 deliveries with 11 fours while Burns hit 33 from 43 balls with seven boundaries. The signs of a run-spree were there from as early as the day’s fourth over when the right-handed Burns helped himself to three boundaries off seamer Kemar Roach.
Warner, who had earlier survived a streaky edge between the keeper and first slip off Roach, collected another two boundaries in the following over from pacer Jerome Taylor and then three successive fours off Roach in the bowler’s fourth, as Australia raced to 58 without loss after only eight overs.
Against the run of play, fast bowler Shannon Gabriel got the breakthrough in his second over and 11th of the morning when he bowled Burns with a full length delivery.
Unperturbed, the left-handed Warner raised his 20th Test half-century with a single off Gabriel as he helped to add a further 29 for the second wicket with captain Steve Smith who made ten. West Indies then enjoyed their best period of the day, removing both Warner and Smith in the last half-hour before lunch.
In his fourth over, Warrican accounted for Smith as the batsman edged a defensive prod to Jermaine Blackwood at slip, with the score on 104 for two. Warner, untroubled for the most part, was out to a soft dismal five overs later when he clipped a leg-side catch to wicketkeeper Denesh Ramdin, attempting to turn an ordinary delivery.
West Indies would have been buoyed by their success at the interval but Voges and Marsh then dominated the remaining sessions, to remove any hope the Caribbean side had of making further inroads.
The Aussies gathered 136 runs from 26 overs in the post-lunch session and a further 181 off 39 overs in the final session, comfortably cresting the 400-run mark and leaving the Windies already with a mountain to climb.
Voges, unbeaten on nine at the break, resumed normal service in the sixth over after the resumption, hammering four boundaries off Warrican in an over that went for 16 runs. He later followed up with a pair of leg-side boundaries off Gabriel before reaching his fifty off a mere 55 balls, with another two boundaries in Gabriel’s next over.
Amazingly, Voges required only a further 45 balls to reach triple figures to complete a run-a-ball hundred, doing so off the final delivery before tea. Left-hander Marsh, on 42 at the tea interval, completed his half-century in the fifth over afterward and then crafted his way to a well-deserved hundred.
He moved into the 90s with two quality back-to-back cover drives off Taylor and reached his landmark a couple overs later by pulling Roach to the square leg ropes.
In the following over from Warrican, Voges passed 150 as Australia’s innings continued to gather pace towards 400.
CMC
SCOREBOARD
Australia vs West Indies
AUSTRALIA 1st inns
J Burns b Gabriel 33
D Warner c wkp Ramdin b Warrican 64
S Smith c Blackwood b Warrican 10
A Voges not out 174
S Marsh not out 139
Extras (b4, lb2, w1, nb11) 18
TOTAL (3 wkts, 89 overs) 438
Fall of wickets: 1-75 (Burns), 2-104 (Smith), 3-121 (Warner)
Bowling: Taylor 12-0-76-0 (w1, nb1), Roach 11-1-64-0 (nb3), Gabriel 10-1-59-1 (nb4), Holder 15-1-45-0 (nb3), Warrican 22-1-111-2, Brathwaite 13-0-52-0, Blackwood 6-0-25-0.