ROSEAU: Dominica: Australia have been left with work to do to resume command of the first Test against the West Indies after losing three wickets on Wednesday afternoon that took the gloss off a Josh Hazlewood-led demolition job by their fast bowling unit.
Michael Clarke's quicks claimed eight wickets between them as the West Indies were rolled for 148 by tea, vindicating the Australian selectors' decision to overlook Fawad Ahmed and a two-pronged spin attack.
However, the hosts successfully chipped away at Australia's advantage in the final session of a day at Windsor Park in which 13 wickets fell, with openers David Warner (8), Shaun Marsh (19) and Clarke (18) himself all departing before stumps. It could have been worse had debutant Adam Voges not survived a close chance from a diving Jerome Taylor at backward square leg and a couple of other hairy moments in the final half-hour.
The 35-year-old West Australian made it to stumps undefeated on 20, however, and will resume with a patient Steve Smith (17 not out) on Thursday with Australia 3-85 in their first innings..
There had been much made about an anticipated debut for Fawad but a first cap was instead handed to Voges and even the former asylum seeker would have struggled to argue against the logic behind going with three fast bowlers after watching the West Indies fall to pieces from the Billy Doctrove Pavilion.
Hazlewood (3-33), in particular, was top-quality viewing for the Australians, continuing to showcase why plenty believe he could become as close to a Glenn McGrath clone as anyone who has emerged since the country's most prolific fast bowler retired. Like McGrath once did his height allows him to get steepling bounce out of the most sedate of pitches, and combined with his accuracy, that trait gave the West Indies top order all manner of drama and set the day up for Australia.
After opener Kraigg Braithwaite was caught behind cheaply, the 24-year-old NSW beanpole then collected the wickets of debutant Shane Dowrich and Jermaine Blackwood in six balls straight after lunch to put the visitors in command. Mitchell Johnson (3-34) and Mitchell Starc (2-48) also got in the action as the West Indies lost 7-63.
"We bowled well as a group," Hazlewood said. "Probably a little bit of a sluggish start but expect that with the two Mitches haven't had as much bowling with the red ball but I thought we came out after lunch and really turned it on. Everyone bowled very well after lunch and we saw the result.
"Probably the bounce surprised me but I haven't played in the West Indies before this tour. I was happy with the bounce I could get so you could still bowl that fourth stump line that we do in Australia, get those edges and have the left-armers as well bowling the same line. That was probably the one thing that surprised me a little bit, to get that bounce for the majority of the day so hopefully it hangs around."
Aside from the efficiency of the Australian pacemen, what will have also pleased Darren Lehmann and co from their position on the balcony at the Botanical Gardens End were a series of superb catches.
The Australians were given a decent workout in the field on grass that may as well have been cut by the machete the Windsor Park curator used to trim the pitch, so slowly did the ball bobble along the surface.
After a Test summer, however, in which Lehmann said their fielding needed to improve, it certainly did. Clarke, in his first Test since tearing a hamstring in Adelaide last December, claimed three catches, two of them beauties. His low, one-handed effort at slip that did in Darren Bravo off the bowling of Nathan Lyon was top shelf, and another in which he moved across from second slip to finish off Blackwood wasn't far behind. Not to be outdone, Marsh's two-handed stretch at gully later in the morning that removed top-scoring opener Shai Hope for 36 was in the same category.
Hazlewood, too, took a fine catch on the rope when a dour Marlon Samuels lost patience and top-edged Starc during the carnage just after lunch and Voges later claimed yet another ripper retreating at mid-wicket after tailender Taylor made a meal of a Smith half-tracker.
"We obviously always train hard on our fielding and do that extra work at training," Hazlewood said. "Whether it's in the slips or the outfield everyone knows where they're fielding and what to work on in training. You expect to catch everything, what we did today. It was just a good day in the field."
What the young West Indian side needed on a first day that didn't go at all to plan was a steadying, proven hand - say, for instance, a Shivnarine Chanderpaul - to stem the tide. The 40-year-old was, of course, nowhere to be seen, unceremoniously dropped for this series with an eye to the future. In the here and now the hosts were in deep trouble without him.
"Obviously Shiv has had a very good career and it's beyond me, the decision for him to be left out, I can't really answer those questions," West Indies allrounder Jason Holder said. "I just think we really need to pull together as a side. We have a very young side and we have some very good players. We just need to work with what we have, and I have full confidence the team we have now is the best team. We just need to have that belief and keep going forward together."
Australia didn't have it all their own way with the bat, though. Warner ballooned Taylor to point, Marsh flashed unsuccessfully at a Holder ball outside off stump, and then Clarke edged spinner Devendra Bishoo behind. All of a sudden the first Test doesn't appear as one-sided as it had seemed.
