By Casey O'Connor
No points for guessing how most of my week was spent.
How good was the first Test!
Perhaps not quite so much if you are a Pom. There are more than a couple of experts wearing a little egg on the face and eating crow after Mitch Starc’s first ball heroics.
My only complaint I was not there to see it in person, but believe me when I say there were not too many balls I missed over the course of the game. I am probably now a little bug-eyed – most TV I’ve watched for some time.
The game was certainly enthralling and both teams gave the big Gabba crowds plenty to cheer about.
There were some extraordinary performances from Starc’s first ball to Alex Carey’s final catch to dismiss Mark Wood giving young Green another Test scalp. Records set, equalled and made – you really can’t beat a first Test at the Gabba.
I’m pretty sure there was never much doubt Pat Cummins was a man made for the captain’s job and if the proof is as they say “in the pudding” – his five wicket haul in the first innings should have silenced the doubters who said the weight of captaincy would affect his bowling (I know our colleague, Tania would have been as delighted as me at his performance – she is probably his No 1 fan).
Alex Carey’s work behind the stumps, a record equalling eight dismissals was for keepers everywhere a thing of sheer beauty. Travis Head repaid the faith with a sensational innings as he made every post a winner in the selection stakes. Warner showed just how gritty (no sandpaper pun intended) he can be and really deserved another Test ton but that, as they say, is cricket.
And best of all Nathan Lyon’s 400th wicket looks to have loosened the shackles and he bowled at his best to snare four.
The only downside to the whole thing (apart from me missing the action) was Dave Warner left nursing badly bruised ribs and the injury to Josh Hazelwood.
Hazelwood’s side strain will keep him out of the Adelaide Test while Warner will probably be carrying an extra layer or two of padding when he front-up to the quicks over there.
In the meantime, hostilities were temporarily put on hold as both teams shared a charter flight from Brisbane to Adelaide.
Wonder who got to sit at the pointy end of the plane and who was shunted to the back?
Can’t wait for Adelaide – more must see TV viewing.
Casey
