Australia had a historic day after Pat Cummins became the latest — and quickest — of the bowling quartet to reach 200 wickets, while Nathan Lyon became the ninth highest wicket-taker in Test cricket history.
Australia finished day three of the first Test against the West Indies on 1/29 after finally dismissing visitors for 283 with a little under an hour left in the day.
Usman Khawaja was the only loss for Australia after he was caught fishing at a ball that jagged off the wicket.
It leaves Australia a monster lead of 344 runs with two days to play.
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Optus Stadium has been a batters’ paradise but the Aussies struck at regular intervals producing several huge highlights with the ball.
The West Indies toiled hard but three wickets each for Mitchell Starc and Pat Cummins ensured the visitors would be well behind the eight-ball.
Cummins’ first wicket of Brathwaite was his 200th for Australia and made our Test quartet of the captain, Starc, Josh Hazlewood and Nathan Lyon the first Aussie attack to all have more than 200 wickets.
“We just heard that five minutes ago and were trying to think of other bowling attacks thinking that stat wasn’t right,” Cummins said after play.
“It’s great. The three other guys are three of my best mates. We all get along so well.
“Again it’s not just the time out in the middle, it’s the amount of dinners and nights in physio rooms hanging out together.
“It’s a really special group we’ve got going. We just have so much confidence in each other. Even today, just felt so relaxed the whole day that once you finished your spell someone else was going to step up.”
Incedibly, Cummins sits behind only Aussie cricket royalty of Clarrie Grimmett (36), Dennis Lillee (38), Stuart MacGill (41) and Shane Warne (42) of least Test matches needed to take 200 wickets.
Otherwise, Sir Alec Bedser, Sir Richard Hadlee, Joel Garner, Ravi Jadeja and Kagiso Rabada are the other members of the under-44 Test club.
He also joins Curtly Ambrose, Joel Garner, Malcolm Marshall, Fred Trueman and Glenn McGrath to reach 200 wickets at an average less than 22. For Australia, McGrath had the lowest average of 21.64, just ahead of Cummins’ 21.69 — although the current skipper did it in one less Test than fast bowling legend.
Seven commentator and NSW quick Trent Copland posted: “@patcummins30 TWO HUNDRED Test Wickets at 21. Just, remarkable. Only FIVE other bowlers in Test history with 200+ at under 22. Ambrose, Walsh, Marshall, Trueman, McGrath. That’s it.“
ESPN Cricinfo’s Andrew McGlashan added: “Couldn’t get a much better ball for No. 200”.
Seven’s Taylor Auerback tweeted: “That is some peach”.
Not to be outdone, Lyon added his 440th wicket to move to outright ninth on the all-time Test wicket-taker tally ahead of Dale Steyn and just two behind Indian tweaker Ravichandran Ashwin.
Australia declared on day two at 4/598 after double centuries to Marnus Labuschagne and Steve Smith, after Travis Head chopped on for 99.
8pm AEDT – Windies all out for 283
Australia have toiled hard in the field and will bat again after dismissing the West Indies for 283 with about an hour left on day three.
Australia lead by 315 runs after Pat Cummins and Mitchell Starc took three wickets each to blow the Windies away.
Defiant innings from Kraig Brathwaite, Tagenarine Chanderpaul, Jermaine Blackwood and concussion replacement Shamarh Brooks weren’t enough as Australia’s mammoth first innings score already looms over the second innings.
6.45pm AEDT – ‘Really unlucky’: Windies rocked
Mitchell Starc has ended Jermaine Blackwood’s defiant 108-ball stand but will count himself incredibly unlucky after he was given out by the barest of margins.
The umpires finger went up but the DRS showed it was barely clipping the leg stump.
But it was just the start as Starc massacred the stumps of Joshua Da Silva for a third ball duck.
It leaves the Windies six down with more than 150 runs to score to avoid follow on.
It was also Starc’s third wicket of the innings.
ABC’s Akash Fotedar tweeted: “Blackwood really unlucky there, could see a fraction of leg stump when he was struck and Starc had swung the previous few deliveries down leg.”
5.40pm AEDT – Lyon joins the party
Nathan Lyon has taken the fourth wicket of the innings, stifling Jason Holder down the leg side as David Warner snaffled a difficult leg slip catch.
Its another big wicket for Australia — the third of the session — and brings Shamarh Brooks to the crease.
He is the concussion replacement for Nkrumah Bonner, who was hit earlier in the day.
He played on for about half an hour before retiring hurt due to dizziness.
Bonner has since been ruled out of the remainder of the match.
5pm AEDT – Utter confusion as Australia denied
Australia have almost claimed a third huge wicket but the DRS has intervened in controversial circumstances after Josh Hazlewood appeared to have Jason Holder out LBW.
The umpire was confident he was plumb, giving the Windies allrounder out without hesitation.
But the Aussies have been denied by the Snicko after a noise showed up just after the ball passed the bat.
Hazelwood was perplexed however as it appears there was a gap between the bat and the ball on the replay.
Had it not been overturned, it would have been out, as it would have hit the top of middle and leg stump.
Commentator Ian Smith believed there was a deviation but nothing showed up on Hot Spot.
Adam Gilchrist said Holder had called for the review early but appeared to point to the height rather than bat involvement.
NRL boss Phil Gould wrote: “Didn’t look like that ball was near the bat”.
CODE Sports’ Lachlan McKirdy added: “Just in case Josh Hazlewood asks. It’s Kumar Dharmasena.”
Seven commentator Lisa Sthalekar tweeted: “Not out, based on my understanding if there is a spike even one frame after the ball passes the bat, as there can be a delay.”
4.20pm AEDT – Cummins joins greats with ‘peach’
Pat Cummins has joined some of the greats of Australian cricket, becoming the fifth fastest bowler to 200 wickets.
The Aussie skipper took out his West Indian counterpart Kraigg Brathwaite with a perfect ball which ended his heroic stand on 64.
Cummins sits behind Aussie cricket royalty of Clarrie Grimmett (36), Dennis Lillee (38), Stuart MacGill (41) and Shane Warne (42) of least Test matches needed to take 200 wickets.
Otherwise, Sir Alec Bedser, Sir Richard Hadlee, Joel Garner, Ravi Jadeja and Kagiso Rabada are the other members of the under-44 Test club.
He also joins Curtly Ambrose, Joel Garner, Malcolm Marshall, Fred Trueman and Glenn McGrath to reach 200 wickets at an average less than 22. For Australia, McGrath had the lowest average of 21.64, just ahead of Cummins’ 21.69 — although the current skipper did it in one less Test than fast bowling legend.
It also becomes the first time in Australian history the nation had fielded four bowlers with more than 200 Test wickets.
It opened the door for the Aussies with Mitch Starc bowling Kyle Mayers for 1 soon after.
Seven commentator and NSW quick Trent Copland posted: “@patcummins30 TWO HUNDRED Test Wickets at 21. Just, remarkable. Only FIVE other bowlers in Test history with 200+ at under 22. Ambrose, Walsh, Marshall, Trueman, McGrath. That’s it.“
ESPN Cricinfo’s Andrew McGlashan added: “Couldn’t get a much better ball for No. 200”.
Seven’s Taylor Auerback tweeted: “That is some peach”.
2.45pm AEDT – West Indies batter retires
Nkrumah Bonner has retired his innings several overs after he was assessed for concussion.
The batter ducked into a nasty bouncer from Cam Green and wore the 140km/h delivery on his helmet. Replays showed he ducked into it awkwardly after clearly misjudging the length. The ball struck him in the back of the head as he turned away at the very last second.
“That’s a really nasty one,” a Channel 7 commentator said.
Fox Cricket’s Mark Howard said the West Indies camp has communicated that Bonner retired under concussion protocols and the team has not yet announced its concussion substitution.
Bonner was said to be feeling “dizzy” as he left the field.
Bonner continued to bat after being assessed but only lasted another five overs before walking off.
2.15pm AEDT – Hazlewood comes up with a beauty
Hazlewood’s perfect line and length delivery caught the outside edge and the catch was gobbled up by David Warner in the slips.
Fox Cricket’s Isa Guha called it an “absolutely perfect” delivery.
“It’s brilliant bowling. An exhibition from one of the best,” she said.
Chanderpual, on debut, had brought up his fifty with a boundary the previous ball, but Hazlewood responded with his next delivery.
Earlier, Steve Smith and Marnus Labuschagne continued their rich form with the willow in their hands.
Labuschagne notched a stunning 204 before Smith then carried on his own brilliant innings where he reached 200 not out before Australia’s declaration.
As the third and final session got underway Smith and Travis Head inched closer to major milestones, but it all went horribly wrong as he chopped a delivery from Kraigg Brathwaite onto his stumps needing just one run to reach his century.
Skipper Pat Cummins waved an end to the innings as Head walked off with his head slumped.
He would have had a smile back on his face after watching Hazlewood’s first wicket.
1.45pm AEDT – Mitch Marsh misses entire summer
Mitchell Marsh will miss the Australian summer of cricket after making a late decision to undergo surgery
The allrounder has been battling the ankle injury for months and finally gave up on trying to manage the issue through physiotherapy.
The Perth Scorchers confirmed the news that he underwent keyhole surgery in Sydney on Thursday.
Marsh is hoping to make his return before Australia’s ODI series against India in March.
1.45pm – Unnerving Steve Smith footage emerges
Steve Smith looked invincible in his opening knock of the summer against the West Indies, but some concerning footage from behind the scenes shows otherwise.
The former captain has been battling an ongoing hip injury and has revealed the joint has been “locked up” for the entire five days he has been in Perth.
He said on Friday he had been unable to sleep because there was “a lot of pain”.
He said the issue will force him to take up a different stance when fielding in the slips on Day Three because of the pain in reaching towards the ground.
It was clear to see how serious the injury is as he grimaced and hobbled out of his press conference at the end of play on Day 2.
He spent the night getting treatment on the massage table.
