Voges, Marsh put Windies to the sword

Adam Voges and Shaun Marsh hit hundreds in an unbroken triple-century stand to put Australia in a strong position at 438 for 3 on the opening day in the first Test in Hobart on Thursday (December 10). Adam Voges and Shaun Marsh make batting look superbly easy on a pitch which does have a bit of help for the fast bowlers.

How they respond on day two will be telling – not only for this Test and the series, but for the future of West Indian cricket.

The Voges-Marsh effort is the second highest fourth wicket stand and fifth highest partnership overall in the 85-year Australia-Windies Test history.

This was the last the paceman would do on the day though, as he left the field injured.

Opener Joe Burns (33) may be the unlucky batsman to miss out at Melbourne after failing to join in on the run feast along with skipper Steve Smith (10).

The first breakthrough for West Indies came when Warner was out for 64 off 61 balls to a leg-side catch by Denesh Ramdin, the wicketkeeper, off Jomel Warrican, the left-arm spinner. West Indies are now 50/1 to complete a surprise turnaround and go 1-0 up. Marsh anchored the innings with a much-needed century of his own, while Voges made a brilliant 174, increasing his Test average to a remarkable 68.91.

But he was far from the form that returned 6-47 against Australia in June in Jamaica.

Unfortunately for West Indies there were no chances created in the two sessions that followed and there weren’t too many appeals either.

This day has all been about records tumbling left, right and center.

Overnight scans would try to uncover the extent of the problem but Warrican said Gabriel’s loss would be great. Either way it’s an intriguing subplot, and we need to embrace those with every fibre of our being because, even after one day, the main plot is a foregone conclusion.

“They toiled as hard as they could, they lost a bowler in Gabriel … so they’re a bowler down (and) there wasn’t a lot of assistance in the wicket for them”, he said.

Voges, 35, who became the oldest Test debutant to score a hundred against the West Indies earlier this year, moved to third on the list of highest scores in a Test at Hobart – behind Kumar Sangakkara (192) and Ricky Ponting (209) – and will have the record in his sights this morning.