Marnus Labuschagne and Travis Head scored imperious hundreds as Australia racked up 330 runs on the opening day of the pink-ball Test against a hamstrung West Indies side that copped another injury blow less than a quarter into the day’s play in Adelaide.
Labuschagne and Head did not go easy on them, the former racking up his third straight ton of the series and the latter completing his first century at home.
By Stumps, Australia’s fourth-wicket pair had put on 199 runs with the visitors’ misery having no foreseeable end.
After West indies lost the toss and braced themselves for a long day of toil against an in-form batting line-up.
But Kraigg Brathwaite’s Bad captaincy stands out like introduced the spin of Roston Chase inside the 10th over of the Test with no success.
Brian Lara was almost lost for words from what he was witnessing from the Fox Cricket commentary box.
“I’m trying to understand it. You’ve got (Anderson) Phillip and (Marquino) Mindley. I don’t know, I can’t explain it as yet,” the Windies icon added in reference to the two new seamers in the team who had been overlooked to be the first-change bowler.
Over in the SEN Radio booth, former Windies pace spearhead Ian Bishop summed it up in one word: “Flabbergasted.”
Khawaja quickly moved into 40s before West Indies finally strung together a sequence of three maidens.
However, To add to their problems, West Indies were a fast bowler down 15 overs into the game with Mindley suffering hamstring discomfort and having to leave the venue for scans.
Labuschagne and Usman Khawaja then took full toll on the West Indies bowlers, who found to their displeasure that the short ball wasn’t climbing up as steeply as it did in Perth and Khawaja in particular was able to easily swivel into pull shots past mid-on for boundary.
They enjoyed their best phase of the first session just before the break but weren’t rewarded for the pressure.
The second session was West Indies’ best of the day, encapsulated by the two wickets they did manage. The breakthrough arrived from an unlikely source.
Devon Thomas, originally picked as a reserve ‘keeper in the squad, ended the 95-run Labuschagne-Khawaja stand by getting the latter LBW on 62.
Steve Smith walked in and straight back out after being dismissed for an eight-ball duck when Jason Holder completed a smart return catch.
West Indies’ joy, however, was short lived for Smith’s dismissal brought the pair of Head and Labuschagne together.
Brief scores: Australia 330/3 (Marnus Labuschagne 120*, Travis Head 114*; Jason Holder 1-42) vs West Indies.