Australia had to make a forced change for the second Test against West Indies, with Michael Neser coming in for injured Josh Hazlewood.
Neser joined Scott Boland for the second Test against West Indies at Adelaide, after a late injury forced Hazlewood out. Stand-in skipper Steve Smith won the toss and elected to bat first on Thursday afternoon.
“I’ve had a bit more time to get around the captaincy this year. I look forward to the opportunity this week. Unfortunately Hazlewood was pulled out last night. I’m not entirely sure of his availability for South Africa. But Neser bowled really well last year so we’re thrilled to have him back,”
he said at the toss.
Smith was handed over the reins for this day night Test after Pat Cummins was ruled out with a quad strain. Hazlewood complained of soreness ahead of the Test and was asked to sit out.
Neser joined Boland as the duo replaced the experienced pair of Cummins and Hazlewood. The situation is quite similar to last year’s Adelaide Test in the Ashes, when Cummins was deemed a COVID-19 close contact and Hazlewood had suffered an injury. Neser made his debut in that match but has not played for Australia since.
The Windies are also battling injuries, with fast bowlers Kemar Roach, Jayden Seales, all-rounder Kyle Mayers and batter Nkrumah Bonner all getting ruled out for this match. They are replaced by fast bowlers Anderson Phillip and Marquino Mindley, plus the batting pair of Sharmarh Brooks and Devon Thomas. Mindley and Thomas made their debut for the Windies with this Test.
Australia were 89 for 1 at the end of first session with Usman Khawaja (50*) and Marnus Labuschagne (13*) seeing off the difficult phase. David Warner had a good start, scoring 21 off 29 with four boundaries but failed to convert it, nicking off a full-ish wide delivery by Alzarri Joseph to the keeper.
