Welcome to our live coverage of the opening Test between Australia and West Indies.
The Aussies have dominated proceedings so far, amassing a huge first innings total in what has been a batsman’s paradise.
Will the races continue to flow?
Follow all the action in our live coverage below.
“JUSTICE FOR JL”: SECURITY removes PRO-LANGER banner
Security at Perth Stadium have removed a sign displayed by home fans that read ‘JUSTICE FOR JL’.
Fans had the sign hanging over the fence at the Justin Langer Stand end of the ground midway through the first session on day three.
However, within minutes, stadium security descended on the fence and had a conversation with the men, before removing the sign from them and removing it from display.
The men then began a “WE WANT JUSTICE” chant, followed by another “JUSTIN LANGER” chant.
The crowd has been thin in Perth, but this Justin Langer section has been the most vocal throughout the Test, especially on day three.
BONNER RETIRES INJURED AFTER NICE COCK
Nkrumah Bonner retires wounded.
The details are still being worked out at this point, but the number three batsman took a nasty hit on the head in the first over from Cameron Green.
That was about 20 minutes ago, but at the drink break, he decided to retire.
It will be evaluated as the day progresses. If he is ruled out with concussion, a replacement can come in for him.
It looked great in the middle. This is a big blow for West Indies.
STATE OF PERFORMANCE: WEST INDIES 1/105
West Indies have done an excellent job of balancing things out after that first wicket.
Nkrumah Bonner had some difficult moments when he first walked into the crease but looked solid over the last 45 minutes.
He has moved to 13 and is setting the scoreboard very well.
Kraigg Brathwaite is the anchor at the other end of the crease, with his 30 runs coming off 110 balls.
It seems the West Indies plan is just to survive as much of today as possible.
THE AUSSIE ALLROUNDER WAVES
Australian star all-rounder Mitchell Marsh has joined Glenn Maxwell in being ruled out for the entire BBL through injury.
Marsh has undergone ankle surgery to fix a long-standing problem and will miss three months of action, aiming to get fit in the build-up to this year’s 50-year-old World Cup coming.
Maxwell has been the biggest card in BBL history and Marsh another highlight and their losses are deep.
WICKET: HAZLEWOOD HANDS AUSSIES DREAM START
Talk about the perfect start.
Through the brilliance of Josh Hazlewood, Australia have a wicket in the first over with Tagenarine Chanderpaul caught at the crease for 51.
That was a serious finish.
Hazlewood hit the right length from the opening ball and had Chanderpaul playing and missing several times.
On the final delivery, he took the edge and Warner swallowed it at first slip.
A dream start for the Aussies and a disaster for the West Indies.
TURNING POINT THAT STARTED THE DECLINE OF INDULAS CRICKET
Robert Craddock
Former Test fast bowler Merv Hughes always likes to raise a smile with his work as a colorful guest speaker…except for one line.
When Hughes says that “the best team I faced was the West Indies,” he sometimes notices a smile or a chuckle in the room as if people thought it was a joke and were looking forward to the challenge.
But if you’re Hughes’s age (61) or older, there’s no punch line because back in the day the punches often flew like windmills in Australia’s direction.
There was little to smile about the brutal treatment meted out by the mighty West Indies teams of the 1970s, 1980s and early 1990s, not just in Australia but around the world.
The smiles are likely to come from cricket fans under 40, who can’t be blamed for not remembering the carnage.
After all, this summer marks 30 years since the West Indies won a Test series against Australia and an astonishing six series since they won a solitary Test against the Green Broads, a drought that looks set to continue after the work of Labuschagne, Smith. and company in Perth.
It is a stark contrast to the old days when West Indies went 15 years (1980-95) without being beaten in a series, not just by Australia. For anyone. Twenty-nine streaks in a row without losing. extraordinary
Hughes talks about that time when he and his great mate Tony Dodemaide were facing the great opening batsmen Gordon Greenidge and Desmond Haynes and looked at the scoreboard and realized that even if they got it going, things might even get worse… with Richie Richardson and Viv Richards, next.
“I’m not sure what’s happened but I know a lot of countries in the West Indies are struggling financially with their cricket,” Hughes said.
“I remember West Indian players telling me many years ago that the kids there were watching a lot of American sports on TV. I heard Curtly Ambrose say he wanted to play basketball, but he only played cricket because the his mother told him to play cricket… I hate his mother!”
Remarkably, the Perth contest is the first Test between Australia and the West Indies in seven years and the gap says it all about Australia’s desire not to play them unless they have to.
It’s a far cry from the Windies glory days of the 1970s when Kerry Packer tried to take them to Australia every year.
The most surprising thing about West Indies’ fortunes was not so much how far they fell, but how they dominated to such a remarkable degree in the first place, since islands like Antigua, Barbados and Trinidad are separate nations united by cricket and little else. month. .
Many reasons are given for Windies’ demise, but a turning point in their fortunes came when English counties began to lose interest in signing Caribbean players in the 1990s.
A legion of great West Indian players such as Richards and Joel Garner (Somerset), Malcolm Marshall (Hampshire), Michael Holding (Lancashire and Derbyshire) and Ambrose (Northamptonshire) learned their trade in England.
But the West Indian players have since fallen out of favor with the English counties and England itself.
The upcoming Future Tours program does not contain any of England’s Test tour of the West Indies, which was one of cricket’s great tours, a hint that the slide of the greatest cricket team of all time will only continue.