SPORTS
Newsday reporter
PERTH: Offspinner Nathan Lyon powered Australia to a 164-run victory in cricket’s opening Test against West Indies to lift the Frank Worrell Trophy at Perth Stadium on Sunday.
Lyon took 6-128 as West Indies were all out for 333 before tea on the final day. It was Lyon’s 21st five-wicket haul in his 111th Test.
Lyon’s tally of 446 Test wickets takes him eighth among all-time wicket-takers and behind fellow Australians Shane Warne (708 wickets in 145 Tests) and Glenn McGrath (563 in 124) who are second and sixth respectively.
“Lyon love bowling here and it was a fantastic all-round performance,” said captain Pat Cummins. “(He) was fantastic. There weren’t many offers, but he still found a way.”
Captain Kraigg Brathwaite top-scored for the visitors with a paltry 110 and a late-order rally from Roston Chase and Alzarri Joseph prevented a capitulation that looked likely as the visitors slumped to 233-7 in the space of 17 overs in the morning.
A stubborn 82-run stand for the eighth wicket between Chase (55) and Joseph (43) delayed the inevitable for 1½ hours either side of the lunch break.
Part-time offspinner Travis Head secured the breakthrough when he bowled Joseph.
Resuming on 257-7 after the lunch break, the West Indies battled on for another 85 minutes before Lyon caught Mitchell Starc’s chase in the field and hit number 11 Kemar Roach (0) with his next ball .
Chase hit one six and three fours from 72 balls in taking over the crease in a frustrating two hours for the Australians, who were without Pat Cummins in their bowling attack due to the captain’s hamstring complaint preventing him from taking the ball.
“I will be fit for Adelaide. I had a tight quad,” Cummins said. “Obviously I have to go through a fitness test and a bowling session, but I’m ready to go.”
Earlier, West Indies lost overnight pair Brathwaite and Kyle Mayers (10) in the first hour of the day and managed just 24 runs in 15 overs as Australia stifled West Indies’ progress.
After Mayers had bowled a delivery to Lyon that spun on him to Steve Smith at slip, the spinner took a delivery to turn hard and beat Brathwaite to full-on to get the precious gain.
Brathwaite had challenged Australia’s vaunted bowling attack for just over five hours scoring his 11th Test in 80 appearances and hitting 14 boundaries off 188 balls.
Jason Holder (3) went for a big drive and edged to Smith at slip, who took a brilliant catch from the part-timer (2-25), falling to his left as West Indies’ resistance nose dived.
West Indies, once the powerhouse of world cricket, have not beaten Australia in 12 Tests since beating Steve Waugh’s side in a dead rubber fourth Test under Brian Lara’s captaincy in Antigua in May 2003.
Man of the Match Marnus Labuschagne scored 204 in Australia’s first innings of 598-4 declared and followed it up with an unbeaten 104 not out in the second innings, the first Australian to score two hundred and one centuries in the same match since Greg Chappell. in 1974.
