Given not out on field, Smith was shown to be plumb in front after the West Indies reviewed.
Roach got a ball to nip back at Smith, who shuffled a long way across and was stuck in front of off stump.
“The Smith experiment at the top of the order not proving successful at this early stage. It’s just a small sample size, admittedly, but that’s the worst possible start for the Australians,” says Adam Gilchrist on Fox Cricket.
“Big step across, almost larger than normal. But completely deceieved. Beaten on length and then that ball darting back in.”
Commentator Isa Guha adds: “You do have to wonder how many times is Steve Smith going to have this opportunity at the top before questions are asked.”
Smith has scored of 12, 11 not out and six since replacing David Warner at the top.
6.30PM: CAREY BOWLED — BUT THE BAILS STAY ON
That would have been another huge moment in this Test match.
Shamar Joseph beats Alex Carey and there’s a huge noise, with Joshua De Silva appealing for a catch behind.
But replays shows the ball hit the top of the bail above off stump.
It spun but wasn’t dislodged in a moment of huge fortune for the Aussies.
Allan Border says on Fox Cricket: “It didn’t even bobble up. it just went round.”
Adam Gilchrist says: “They’ve done well not to burn a review there.”
6.25PM: LARA — IT’S A DAY FOR THE UNDERDOGS
It’s hard to draw parralels to what is happening at Melbourne Park in the tennis to what’s unfolding at the Gabba.
But, we can’t blame Brian Lara for trying.
Lara hopped into a commentary stint with Fox Cricket shortly after Jannik Sinner shocked Novak Djokovic in a semi-final at the Australian Open.
And he’s bullish about it being a day to remember for the underdogs.
“A big day for favourites — you’ve got Australia under a lot of pressure against the West Indies,” Lara said on Fox Cricket.
“Djokovic just losing his semi-final to Sinner. So, good days for the underdogs.”
6.07PM: ANOTHER WICKET! MARSH OUT
Just as he looked set to launch, Mitch Marsh is out.
He goes back to try and pull a short ball from Alzarri Joseph but barely gets any of it and a catch balloons to Kemar Roach.
Huge wicket for the West Indies — Australia is 5-54.
“That’s beat him for pace, it just got on him,” says Brendon Julian on Fox Cricket.
“Mitch Marsh can’t believe it.”
6.05PM: KHAWAJA, MARSH LAUNCH COUNTERATTACK
Mitch Marsh has pledged to do it his way since coming back in to the Test team and even being 4-24 isn’t going to stop him.
The Aussie No.6 is looking to take the game to the West Indies and is 17 off 18 balls.
Australia has worked its way to 4-50 with Usman Khawaja 13 not out.
6PM: LARA — ICC MUST STEP IN TO HELP TEST CRICKET
With the future of Tests one of cricket’s hottest topics this summer, West Indian legend Brian Lara has called on the ICC to help financially-crippled countries.
Lara said there was an obvious “big three” — India, Australia and England — but other countries needed assistance from cricket’s governing body.
“In terms of the financial side, we have the big three. We have the ICC who I think needs to protect the other nations,” he said on Fox Cricket.
Lara also called on West Indian cricket authorities to improve the country’s pathway system to avoid a future where talents prioritise T20 cricket over Tests.
That has long been an issue for the Caribbean nations, with Lara citing the example of Keiron Pollard.
“It’s tough to keep maybe our best players on the park. You’d want, first of all, all our players to be available for Test cricket. Some haven’t (been),” he said on Fox Cricket.
“A good example would be someone like Kieron Pollard, who obviously now has retired but has never stepped onto a Test playing field but obviously plied his trade in franchise cricket and (for) West Indies limited overs.
“In the longer version of the game, first of all the spectators, they are not there. But so be it. I just believe that we need to nurture our talent a little bit better.”
Lara added: “I believe admistratively we can do a little bit more. Better programs, get the kids in their teenage life coming up understanding the legacy of West Indies cricket. And I think that can be transferred onto the playing field.”
5.40PM: SINCLAIR REFLECTS ON DEBUT TO REMEMBER
He’s less than two days into his Test career, but Kevin Sinclair will already have fond memories of Brisbane.
A Test fifty on debut from No.8 and a spectacular diving catch have announced the 24-year-old to international cricket — and he’s still got to bowl.
Sinclair said the occasion would be very special for his family back in the Caribbean.
“My grandfather, I am a bit emotional when I speak about this. He always wanted somebody to play Test cricket. So I know he will feel very, very proud of me. So, this is a good start,” he told Channel 7.
He added: “I really feel really, really good to get the 50 on my debut and this one is for him.”
5.20PM: VAUGHAN RAISES QUESTIONS OVER SMITH TECHNIQUE
Former England opener and captain Michael Vaughan has offered a damning review of Steve Smith’s technique on the ball he was dismissed by Kemar Roach.
Smith was trapped lbw by a ball which nipped back at him after moving across his stumps.
He was originally given not out on field before a successful review by the West Indies.
“He’s all over the place. He’s all over the place with that technique,” Vaughan said on Fox Cricket.
“That should not get you out as an opening bat. He goes back to a length ball.”
Adam Gilchrist said Smith missed the ball by “almost a foot”.
“He’s always been a guy that shuffles across. But look how pronounced this movement is, back and across. It seems to be slightly more exaggerated than normal even,” he said.
“When one just angles back in, he’s missed that by almost a foot. Completely deceived on length and when you’re moving so much and the head gets so far outside the line of the ball, you’re deceived on line as well.”
4.59PM: HEAD CAUGHT FIRST BALL
Kemar Roach has done it again and the West Indies can’t be stopped.
Travis Head is strangled down the leg side, gets a small edge on a delivery from Roach and Joshua De Silva snares a great catch.
“No worse way to go. It’s a half volley, going down legside,” Ricky Ponting tells Channel 7. “Just catches up with it. Just clips the inside edge and a good catch. Da Silva lunging to his right. Gets both gloves around it. Kemar strikes again. And Travis Head is gone first ball.”
They’ll go to lunch with Australia in strife at 4-24, trailing by 287 runs, and Roach on a hat-trick.
Is a massive boilover brewing?
4.57PM: GREEN GONE!
The West Indies have carved through Australia’s top-order before the tea break.
Cameron Green bunts a simple catch straight to Kraigg Brathwaite at a wide mid-off and the new Aussie No.4 is gone for 8 and Australia is in all sorts at 3-24.
4.42PM: SINCLAIR TAKES A SCREAMER
Marnus Labuschagne is gone too.
The Aussie No.3 fends at a rising ball from Alzarri Joseph and Kevin Sinclair takes a diving catch in the slips.
What an hour the West Indies debutant is having.
4.21PM: SINCLAIR FIFTY ON DEBUT, OUT NEXT BALL
Backflipping debutant Kevin Sinclair frustrated Australia and led West Indies fightback with a maiden Test fifty on day two in Brisbane.
Sinclair, a 24-year-old spinner, burst onto the international scene and stole the show in a match against UAE with an acrobatic wicket celebration.
Teammate Josh De Silva isn’t so sure Sinclair will bring out the flip in Test cricket, but hopes the first-gamer will make an impact with the ball when called upon on Friday.
“I would love to see it as well. I think he’s (pulled) it back a bit for safety reasons.
“I’m sure sometimes excitement can get the best of him, so we may see one or two hopefully,” he told Fox Cricket.
Sinclair hit consecutive boundaries off Nathan Lyon to bring up his 50 and was out the next ball in an eventful over as West Indies were dismissed for 311.
It was a gutsy fightback from the inexperienced West Indies, who were reeling at 5-64 on day one.
Sinclair produced a picture-perfect moment on day one when he held the pose after driving Mitch Starc down the ground for a boundary.
“It’s great to see that the character is still there. That’s the flamboyance in West Indian cricket,” Brian Lara said.
4.07PM: CALAMITOUS RUN OUT GIFTS AUSSIES WICKET
Australia is one wicket closer to batting at the Gabba after Kemar Roach slips and is run out after a defiant stand with Kevin Sinclair.
The visitors are 9-297 and Shemar Joseph has joined Sinclair in the middle.
Roach took off for a single and was sent back by Sinclair but took a tumble in the middle of the pitch and was run out by metres.
“That’s a shame for the West Indies. He’s fought so hard,” Mark Waugh says on Fox Cricket.
“Kemar Roach is adamant there’s a single in it and there probably was.”
“There’s an easy single. That’s elementary,” says Brian Lara.
3.15PM: AUSSIES URGED TO MAKE $1.8M MAN NEXT STARC
Australia has been urged to groom IPL millionaire Spencer Johnson as Mitchell Starc’s long-term successor.
Former Aussie captain Ricky Ponting has backed Johnson, who was the player of the final in the Big Bash League final, to become Australia’s next left-arm strike weapon.
At 33, Starc still likely has 2-3 years of his international career left.
But Johnson, 28, will be close to the prime of his career should Starc follow that timeline. “You would (think) Mitchell Starc has couple of years to go yet,” Ponting said on Channel 7. “So, with a bit more experience at the first-class level, Cricket Australia should be aiming to have Spencer Johnson ready to walk into that seat when Mitchell Starc leaves it.”
Meanwhile, day two is underway in Brisbane despite rain and protest fears which prompted suggestions of a possible delay.
EARLIER: PROTEST THREATENS START OF PLAY
Fans were banned from entering the Gabba and the start of day two of the second Test was temporarily under threat due to an Australian Day protest.
It is understood that three rowdy spectators, including a shirtless man, shouting “we are on stolen land … always has been and always will be’’ triggered a security alert.
The spectators were identified by security but Cricket Australia took the precaution of temporarily banning fans from entering the ground.
Several people protesting outside were also being watched closely by police and it is believed at least one was arrested.
Broadcasters Fox and Channel 7 were told they could not broadcast from the field of play.
All media were removed from the playing surface – and even beyond the boundary rope – 70 minutes from the start of play but returned soon after.
It was expected play would start on time.
Australian players arrived at the ground an hour early to avoid the protest and some Cricket Australia employees did not wear team kit.
‘TOO FIRM FOR THE PINK BALL’: STARC, LYON PUT GABBA DECK ON NOTICE
—Daniel Cherny
Australian bowlers Mitchell Starc and Nathan Lyon have claimed the Gabba pitch produced for the second Test is not fit for purpose after the West Indies mounted a fightback on day one.
From 5-64, the Windies reached 8-266 at stumps after a 149-run sixth-wicket partnership from Kavem Hodge and Joshua Da Silva.
The Test is just the third day-night Test at the Gabba and the first since 2019. Ordinarily the Adelaide Test is the sole pink-ball clash for the home Test summer but a scheduling quirk meant Adelaide hosted a day Test last week.
Starc – who took four wickets on day one to go past 350 in Test cricket – said the pitch, which had just 3mm of grass covering, was not optimal for a day-night clash.
“We knew it was gonna be a little bit in with a hard new ball. It’s a pretty good wicket. We know the pink balls get soft at some point and I think that the firmness of this wicket, it started to go soft about the 11th over,” Starc said.
“The ball is what it is. I think it now comes down to the wicket which I think Adelaide’s got right because of the ball and we know it goes soft at certain stages depending on the wicket I think there’s a certain cushion to what they make in Adelaide and just why it’s been such a good Test match, the pink ball Test in Adelaide.
“So I think this week is pretty similar to the game we played Pakistan here with the pink ball (in 2016). In that game as well it went soft very early. There was a lot of dead patches where because it was so soft. It was hard to score, there wasn’t much in it for the bowlers and I think Pakistan got about 450 chasing 490 in the fourth innings so it feels a bit like a similar wicket where it’s probably a bit too firm for the pink ball. I think it’d be a fantastic red ball wicket but probably too firm for the pink ball.”
Off-spinner Lyon offered similar sentiments when speaking after play on the ABC.
“I’ll try not to get in trouble,” Lyon said. This is just my opinion. The right venue for pink ball Tests is Adelaide Oval and that’s because (of) the contest between bat and ball and the grass left on the wicket. This wicket, I think it would be a brilliant red-ball wicket.”
Gabba curator David Sandurski shaved much of the grass covering off the pitch in a bid to mitigate against another overly bowler-friendly pitch like the one used last summer in which Australia beat South Africa inside two days.
What was the feeling of winning the IPL after such financial scrutiny?
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