At 10 am on a greenish pitch, Jason Holder lost the toss but didn’t mind that Steven Smith chose to bat. “Hopefully we can exploit the conditions as best as possible and get into their middle order,” he said. By 12.30pm they had done so; Australia were 3 for 121 and wobbling. It turned out
Buoyed by a quicker pitch with some live grass on it, West Indies’ three-pronged pace attack made light work of Sri Lanka’s top order before debutant left-arm spinner Jomel Warrican claimed four wickets to wrap up the Sri Lankan innings at 200, two hours into the final session on the first day at the P
An unbeaten century from Dimuth Karunaratne ensured Sri Lanka negotiated the opening day of the series with a sense of calm and lost only two wickets on a slow Galle pitch. Sri Lanka grew increasingly dominant as the day progressed. The final session produced over 43% of the runs they scored on the day, and
Steven Smith’s ninth hundred – his fifth in six Tests – held Australia’s innings together in Jamaica, his partnerships of 118 with Michael Clarke and 76 with Adam Voges ensuring West Indies were able to claim only four wickets on the first day. The returns were fewer than Denesh Ramdin would have wanted when he
When a third wicket fell in 15 balls during the morning session, possibilities for the opening day at Centurion abounded but the final outcome involved two very common sights: Hashim Amla and AB de Villiers with hundreds to their name. The pair came together on 57 for 3 following the loss of three wickets for