Frank Worrell Trophy 1st Test Match, 3:40pm LIVE! From Brisbane "The Gabba" Cricket Ground
Australians dismiss Nash (Katich takes the important wicket)
The Gabba' welcomed the players onto the field once again for the final session of the opening day of the first test match in the Frank Worrell Trophy. The Australians had dismissed the two set batsman in Sarwan and Deonarine before Tea. The current job at hand was to attempt to dismiss Nash or Bravo and enter creep into the tailenders.
Simon Katich, who had taken the wicket of Ramnaresh Sarwan was to bowl the opening over of the final session. Captain Ricky Ponting was showing a lot of confidence in his part-time bowler as he bowled his seventh over.
Operating from the other end was part-timer Marcus North who had also dismissed Narsingh Deonarine. He had been getting some grip aswell as a fraction more of expected bounce outside the right-hander's stump. In North's second spell he did not attain the bounce and spin from his previous spell as Nash then started to open up and play with the spin.
In one particularly magnificent stroke, North tossed the ball up tempting Nash to beat Ryan Harris at mid-off. Nash accepted the challenge and indeed he did clear mid-off, not to mention clearing the ropes by a good 10 feet and into the Gabba stands. North's short three over spell prompted Ponting to give him a rest as he then operated a fresh Ryan Harris for his second spell of the day.
His opening over of his spell consisted of 3 "loosners" outside off-stump which Nash decided to leave. However on the fourth occasion, Nash elegantly rocked off the backfoot and stroked the ball through the covers as the Gabba outfield was too quick for a diving Mike Hussey at the boundary. Nash was now into the fourties and looked like getting to a half-century in comparison with his counterparts (Gayle, Sarwan & Deonarine.)
From the other end, Ricky Ponting continued to persist with Katich who was not spinning the ball away from Nash. Due to this, Ponting asked Mitchell Johnson to come and stand at Silly Mid-Off. As Nash defended a ball directly infront of him, Johnson stepped forward as he started to budge Nash out of the way using his elbow.
As he then retrieved the ball and tossed it back to Katich, Nash uttered something unaudible by the stump microphone. Johnson's smile evaporated in mid air as he came toe-to-toe with Brendon Nash as a barrage of words were exchanged. Ponting took Johnson away from the position and had a quiet word with him as Johnson was kicking the turf all the way back to Mid-Off.
This stand-off seemed to have an affect on Brendon Nash's concentration as the following ball he was softly dismissed by Katich. Nash stood there looking at the pitch as he could not believe what had happened. On the other side, Katich had picked up his second wicket.
After toiling away for fifteen overs, Katich finally extracted some form of spin and bounce, and at the correct time. Katich bowled and pitched the ball on a good length on middle/outside leg stump. The ball rose a fraction more than usual. Nash, already drawn into the shot was looking to play the expansive cover drive he had played previously. However, due to the additional bounce and spin, the ball caught the edge of Nash's bat. Philip Hughes at first slip took a relatively simple catch as Nash was furious with his dismissal as Nash joined captain Gayle, Sarwan & Deonarine who had been dismissed in the fourties and not converted their starts.
The next batsman to come to the wicket was the Wicketkeeper Denesh Ramdin. Ramdin has had a string of poor form with the bat, particularly in test matches. It seems as though the Australians had done their homework as Ricky Ponting instructed Michael Clarke to field at a second Gully beside Michael Hussey.
With Bravo playing conservatively, it is up to Bravo aswell as Ramdin to overcome the final 50 minutes of play as the Australians smell blood.
Inordinate come back from the Indies. Bravo playing pretty impulsive, while Nash scored more than I was thinking. and the way Katich bowled was smashing. hopefully Johnson gets to bowl at least 10 overs.
Frank Worrell Trophy 1st Test Match, 6:30pm LIVE! From Brisbane "The Gabba" Cricket Ground
Bravo & Nash get to the close (Couple of nervy moments for WI)
Denesh Ramdin who as previously noted had not been in good nick accompanied Dwayne Bravo for the final fifty minutes of play remaining in the day. As Ramdin took his guard at the wicket, captain Ponting told part-timer Simon Katich to take a rest as he brought back Shane Watson for his second spell of the day.
Watson had previously bowled very economically in his opening spell when Sarwan & Deonarine were together at the wicket. And again he started by making an impact. Ponting knew that the ball being 70+ overs old, the ball would soon start to reverse swing. This was the main reason he took Katich out of the attack. Ramdin left the first three balls of Watson's over alone outside off-stump. Watson saw this and followed it up a 80 mph delivery pitching just outside off-stump. The ball carried on with the angle towards the slips as Ramdin's eyes widened. The edge had been found as a load scream of "CATCH!" could be heard from the stump microphone by all of the slip cordon. Marcus North positioned at Gully was indecisive as to lunge forward and take the catch or stay back and stop the ball from rolling towards the boundary. Unfortunatly, he hesitated and thus the ball managed to sneak between the gap between his feet and run along the ground towards the boundary.
Watson was visiblly frustrated as North quickly sped across and retrieved the ball from the boundary fence. From the other end, Ponting decided to rest Ryan Harris and bring on Ben Hilfenhaus into the attack. He too like his counterpart Watson was utilizing the old ball very well as Bravo stroked an elegant cover drive to pick up his first boundary and head into the thirites. However, the next ball was on a length and angling towards the slips. Bravo decided that this was a scoring opportunity and thus rocked onto the backfoot and attempted to get another boundary. Again the ball found the edge as the shouts of "CATCH IT!" were heard again. Unfortunatly for the Australians again, the ball went in the vacant gap inbetween fourth slip and Mike Hussey at Gully as Hilfenhaus trudged back to his mark.
The final thirty minutes were uneventful as Ramdin finally hit some orthodox strokes towards the close of play. Eventually the final ball was left alone by Denesh Ramdin as the West Indian pair headed off the field alongside the Australian players as umpire Billy Doctrove called time.
Unfortunatly, only 82 overs could be complete as the Australians had been fairly slow in their over rate and thus play tomorrow would be commencing approximatly half an hour earlier at 10:30am.
West Indies Scorecard
Australia Bowling Card
Stay tuned to Channel nine because after the break we will be summarising the day's play in "The Cricket Show." Stay tuned!
Nice update there. Good batting from Bravo and Ramdin to survive until stumps. Still no batsman have scored half centuries though. Game still very much in the balance at 5/257.
why don't they bowl Johnson? in one day, they should have scored 300 maximum. Bravo is pretty relaxed, scoring just 37 runs from 89 balls. they need him to make at least 300 or more.
This site uses cookies to help personalise content, tailor your experience and to keep you logged in if you register.
By continuing to use this site, you are consenting to our use of cookies.
