A record-breaking debut hundred by Adam Voges has lifted Australia to a commanding position in the first Test against the West Indies.
Voges became the oldest man to score a century on debut in Test history, scoring an unbeaten 130 as Australia reached 318 to lead by 170 runs going into the second innings.
The 35-year-old is the 20th man to score a Test hundred on debut for Australia, with state teammate Shaun Marsh the last man to achieve that milestone against Sri Lanka in 2011.
Voges’ knock was particularly telling with Australia collapsing to 6-126 at one stage in reply to the Windies’ 148.
The right-hander combined with Mitchell Johnson (20), Nathan Lyon (22) and last man Josh Hazlewood (39) to take the Australians firstly out of trouble and then into a commanding position.
Voges reached his ton just before tea, nudging a ball off his hip for a single.
The veteran raised his arms in delight before turning to acknowledge his teammates and travelling Australian supporters.
His 247-ball innings included 13 fours and one six, which took him to 98.
Voges’ innings wasn’t without incident, dropped on 57, 87 and 104 and also being given out LBW on 127 only to overturn the decision successfully on review.
His last wicket stand of 97 with Hazlewood was particularly galling for the home team, who would have hoped to be conceding a deficit not much more than 50 earlier in the day.
Resuming on 3-85, Australia were reduced to a perilous 6-126 when Devendra Bishoo claimed three wickets in his opening nine-over spell.
Wickets of Steve Smith (25) and Shane Watson (11) were followed by a classic delivery to remove Brad Haddin (8).
Bishoo evoked the memory of Shane Warne’s “ball of the century” 22 years to the day after the Australian champion bamboozled England’s Mike Gatting.
Haddin was left hapless as Bishoo’s leg-break pitched on leg-stump, fizzed past his bat and crashed into the top of off stump.
The 29-year-old completed his five- wicket haul with the wicket of Johnson (20) after lunch and then secured his 50th Test scalp – just the second West Indian leg-spinner to achieve that mark – when he bowled Mitchell Starc (0) two balls later.
Bishoo finished with 6-80 to easily be the best of the Windies’ bowlers, with no-one else taking more than one wicket.
