Starc and Cummins maintain Australia control over West Indies in first Test

Australia 598-4 dec & 29-1; West Indies 283Pat Cummins takes 200th Test wicket in his 44th Test

Australia’s fast bowlers eventually made headway against a stubborn West Indies batting effort on the third day of the first Test at Perth Stadium, prising out the visitors for 283 across 98.2 overs on a mild and sunny day. After choosing to bat again, Australia’s first-innings lead of 315 was extended to 344 in 11 overs before stumps for the loss of Usman Khawaja.

For the longest time, it was hard to know what to make of the Perth drop-in surface. The first such pitch for the India Test of 2018 enabled an electric contest with its pace. The following year against New Zealand it was comparatively anodyne. After the first two and a half days of this current Test had yielded five wickets from both teams combined, scorecard watchers would have assumed this pitch was a highway. In fact it was still offering good bounce, it had a persistently green thatch of grass, and
there were deliveries that had batters in trouble.

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