West Indies’ batting frailties were exposed after stumbling against an inexperienced Cricket Australia XI in Adelaide. One week out from the first Test against Australia, the tourists’ batters made several starts but all failed to go on with it on a dry Karen Rolton wicket.
West Indies ended day one 251 for 8 (Greaves 65, Hodge 52, Brathwaite 52, Haskett 3-57) vs Cricket Australia XI
West indies opening duo Kraigg Brathwaite and Tagenarine Chanderpaul who began their Test union at Perth in late 2022 and were again among the most assured of their team’s batters today.
But after their 70-run first-wicket stand was broken, the West Indies lost three quick wickets before Hodge and Greaves’s rescue mission, only to surrender 4-8 from 38 deliveries either side of the second new-ball being taken late in the day.
Western Australia left-arm quick Liam Haskett finished with the best figures of 3-57 having claimed two of those late scalps, and the CA XI will be looking to wrap up the visitors’ innings early tomorrow on a pitch that offers a bit for the new-ball but is otherwise a good batting surface.
The combination of some erratic offerings from the young CA XI attack and caution shown by Test opening pair Brathwaite and Chanderpaul, the tourists safely negotiated the first hour while scoring at barely two runs an over.
But the loss of Chanderpaul to one of the few flashes of aggression in the morning session – an attempted cover drive to a ball angled across the left-hander in WA all-rounder Brad Hope’s opening over – brought the breakthrough.
Hope might have pocketed another two overs later when West Indies number three Kirk McKenzie attempted to hammer a short ball through point, and Haskett’s despairing dive to the left yielded only fingertips to the tough chance.
Having gone to lunch 1-70 from 29 overs, the visitors suffered the sort of top-order implosion that marked their two-Test visit last year during which they surrendered 3-3 in the space of 22 balls.
McKenzie, whose sole Test appearance to date came against India in Trinidad last July, tried to take on the CA XI’s short-ball ploy but his top-edged pull was safely caught by Harry Conway at fine leg, where he duly celebrated his snare by high-fiving the lone spectator standing immediately behind him.
Soon after, spin-bowling all-rounder Alick Athanaze began his maiden Australia campaign on a forgettable note when he also succumbed to the bouncer ploy and top edged a waist-high ball from Haskett that was caught by stand-in keeper Harry Matthias running around to square leg.
Athanaze’s six-ball duck represented a far less accomplished start than Matthias, who was drafted into the CA outfit at short notice this morning after first-choice keeper Jake Doran became ill.
When Brathwaite departed in decidedly lacklustre fashion next over, top edging an ungainly stand-up sweep shot off Warren to backward square, it seemed the West Indies were destined to relive their previous visit to Adelaide when they were rolled for 77 in their second innings of the final Test.
However, aspiring Test pair Hodge and Greaves fused watchful defense with some textbook Strokeplay to post their century stand in the day’s final hour.
Stylish right-hander Hodge stands poised to realize a life’s dream after compiling a tidy half-century on the opening day of West Indies tour game against a Cricket Australia XI.
Hodge and his former under-19 World Cup teammate Justin Greaves put together an invaluable 120-run stand for the fifth wicket that was bookended by a couple of costly batting collapses as the visitors ended day one of the three-day fixture 8-251.