Australia dismiss Windies for 148

 Roseau

West Indies were skittled for just 148 before Australia lost three late wickets on an entertaining first day of the first Test in Dominica.

 Australia reached 3-85 by close, just 63 runs in arrears. Steve Smith was unbeaten on 17 with debutant Adam Voges on 20 not out.

Much of the talk leading into the match was about how much the pitch was going to spin but it was the Aussie pacemen who did the majority of the damage, with Josh Hazlwood leading the way as the Windies were all out before tea. 

Hazlewood claimed 3-33, Johnson took 3-34 and fellow left-armer Mitchell Starc chipped in with 2-48 as the tourists routed a home side whose top scorer was Shai Hope with 36.

“We’re obviously pretty happy with how we went. We did our job as a (bowling) group.” Hazlewood said.

 The home team, after winning the toss, enjoyed a solid enough start, reaching 1-63 midway through the first session.

 But Australia produced a disciplined performance with the ball and was spectacular in the field, prompting a West Indies collapse either side of lunch - with five middle-order wickets being lost for 28 runs.

 After lunch, the wickets continued to tumble as Hazlewood bowled debutant Shane Dowrich (15) off the inside edge and soon added the scalp of Jermaine Blackwood to a second slip catch.

 Hazlewood then contributed a well-judged catch at fine leg to pouch Marlon Samuels’ top-edged hook off Starc as the hosts slumped to 6-91.

 Jason Holder and captain Denesh Ramdin rallied to add 30 for the seventh wicket. But Johnson returned to bowl Ramdin off the inside edge and the tail failed to wag.

 Starc claimed Holder via a gully catch before Voges, a 35-year-old making his debut, hauled in an excellent running catch to remove Jerome Taylor off Smith’s part-time leg-spin.

 Johnson finished off the innings on the stroke of tea when last man Shannon Gabriel edged to second slip, where Clarke claimed his third sharp catch.

 The West Indies bowlers hit back strongly in the final session as Taylor and Holder dismissed openers David Warner and Shaun Marsh cheaply.

 Warner (8) spooned Taylor to gully off the leading edge while fellow left-hander Marsh (19) edged to first slip off Holder at 2-38.

 Leg-spinner Devendra Bishoo added the key wicket of skipper Clarke, caught behind to provide Ramdin with his 200th test dismissal and leave Australia on 61-3.

 Smith and Voges steadied the tourists’ innings in the final half hour in an unbroken stand of 24, with Voges hitting four fours off 27 balls while Smith had a boundary-free innings of just over two hours.