Pat Cummins (4-41) and Josh Hazlewood (4-44) picked up four-fers to give Australia opening day honours in the Adelaide Test against West Indies even as the visitors’ debutant Shamar Joseph stole a wee bit of the limelight. Put in to bat first in overcast conditions, West Indies suffered a dramatic collapse of 6 for 35 but Shamar first put on a gusty 55-run final-wicket stand to frustrate the hosts and then struck with his first ball in Test cricket to dismiss ‘new opener’ Steve Smith cheaply.

With a cloud cover overhead, Cummins had no hesitation in going against venue history by sending the inexperienced opposition in to bat first. Australia’s new-ball bowlers were very disciplined in their respective opening spells but without much success. With the ball moving a fair bit, West Indies openers hit survival mode early on and had to work hard for their runs. There were quite a few plays and misses and a couple of edges too that evaded the fielders.

Cummins brought himself on in the 10th over and got the breakthrough almost immediately. He lured Tagenarine Chanderpaul into a drive with a full ball outside off and the opener duly took the bait, sending a thick outside edge to gully. In the same spell, the Australia captain cleaned up Kraigg Brathwaite with an absolute peach to end his defiant 45-ball stay in the middle.

What followed was a series of poor judgement and shot selection from the inexperienced line-up, and a total lack of application as Australia took control of proceedings. West Indies had only begun to rebuild when Hazlewood returned into the attack ahead of Lunch and sent Alick Athannaze packing with a nip backer that came back in to disturb the woodwork as the batter looked to leave but without covering his off-stump.

Kirk McKenzie and debutant Kavem Hodge did well to hold Australia off for the next hour through their fourth-wicket partnership that began before Lunch. However, once that was broken, Hazlewood and Cummins ripped through the middle and lower order. Hazlewood kick-started it with the wicket of Hodge in the over before McKenzie brought up his half-century. After a patient stay in the middle, Hodge paid the price for a lapse in judgement as he sent a thick outside edge to gully attempting a drive off a full ball outside off. McKenzie himself didn’t last long after the milestone, nicking behind as both set batters fell nine runs apart.

Hazlewood picked up his fourth when another West Indies debutant, Justin Greaves, lazily drove away from body to offer short cover a regulation catch. At the other end, Cummins removed Joshua da Silva and Alzarri Joseph in his succeeding overs. The former was set-up with the short ball ploy and eventually ended up pulling one straight to deep square leg while the latter edged to second slip. Sandwiched between the two was Mitchell Starc’s only wicket of the day, that of Gudakesh Motie.

The play in the afternoon session was extended by half an hour but Australia’s hunt for that final wicket stretched 15 minutes past Tea as Shamar decided to entertain the crowd. Windies’ third debutant of the match, Shamar took on Hazlewood’s short ball challenge well and scored a couple of boundaries on the trot and then smoked a six over cow corner. The no. 11’s gutsy knock has been in stark contrast to the other batters, who did not show any application and kept wasting their starts after getting an eye in. He fell for 36 eventually, taking West Indies to a respectable 188 from a precarious 133/9 at one stage.

Australia and Usman Khawaja were edgy with the bat in the beginning with the opener getting an early reprieve on three off Alzarri Joseph’s bowling. However, Shamar came into the attack as first-change bowler and struck gold with a jaffa as he nicked off Australia’s newest Test opener, Smith, on 12. He again dented the home team’s recovery flow by bouncing out Marnus Labuschagne for just 10.

Khawaja and new no. 4 Cam Green saw through the remainder half an hour without any further damage through there were a few nervy moments for the duo with Shamar particularly asking questions of batters consistently. Nevertheless, Australia ended the day well in control with 59/2 on board, their deficit reduced to just 129.

Brief scores:
Australia 59/2 in 21 overs (Usman Khawaja 30*; Shamar Joseph  2-18) trail  West Indies 188 in 62.1 overs  (Kirk McKenzie 50, Shamar Joseph 36; Pat Cummins 4-41, Josh Hazlewood 4-44) by 129 runs