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Australia v West Indies Test match live scores, stream, Justin Langer sign removed

Welcome to our live coverage of the opening Test between Australia and the West Indies.

The Aussies have dominated proceedings so far, amassing a huge first innings total on what has been a batsman’s paradise.

Will the runs continue to flow?

Follow all the action in our live coverage below.

WICKET! CAPTAIN CUMMINS TAKES 200

Pat Cummins takes his 200th wicket with an absolute peach.

The captain removes West Indies skipper Kraigg Brathwaite (64) with a replica of the delivery that removed Joe Root in the last Ashes series.

Cummins just has that knack of angling into the right hander and hitting the top of off stump. Incredible delivery.

With that wicket, Australia becomes the first Test team to field four players with 200 wickets.

LUNCH: WEST INDIES 1/150

That is lunch here at Perth Stadium and the honours for that session go to the tourists.

The West Indies have moved to 1-150, an awesome effort given the tricky session they were forced to face last night.

Captain Kraigg Brathwaite moved past 50, with his eyes set on notching his 11 international Test century.

The only negative that session was Nkrumah Bonner being forced to retire hurt after being hit by a Cam Green bouncer.

Australia’s lead is still 448 runs. What will it be at stumps?

JUSTICE FOR JL’: SECURITY REMOVES PRO-LANGER BANNER

Optus Stadium security sources have confirmed they removed a Justin Langer protest sign on day three of the first Test because of its controversial nature.

A group of Perth teenagers have admitted surprise that stadium security deemed a “JUSTICE FOR JL” sign they were displaying over the fence at the bottom of The Justin Langer Stand offensive enough to remove from them on Friday.

Optus Stadium has claimed the sign was removed because it was overlapping commercial signage, however that assertion was strongly denied by security sources who spoke to News Corp on the condition of anonymity.

News Corp has been told that stadium control issued a message to security to remove the sign due to the nature of what was being displayed.

There’s no doubt the sign was a provocative message in the context of the controversial build-up to the Test, but it would be a stretch to say it contravened Cricket Australia’s terms and conditions which stipulates; “I will not wear or otherwise display commercial, political, religious or offensive signage or logos.”

The teenagers on the fence said the sign was not there’s, but had been given to them by another patron to display.

After the sign was removed by security, the boys started a chant “WE WANT JUSTICE”, followed by another chant of “JUSTIN LANGER.”

However, the boys were not spoken to about anti-social behaviour, and the bay was in fact yelling out support of the Australian players on the field.

The teenagers spoken to by News Corp were not upset by the sign removal, and were happy to get on enjoying their day, but admitted surprise that the message JUSTICE FOR JL was deemed offensive.

The teenagers confirmed that security had told them the sign was being removed due to its message and denied Optus Stadium’s assertion that it was due to it covering commercial signage.

The offending JUSTICE FOR JL banner has been stored at the ground and is available to be picked up by the teenagers should they want it back after play.

Ex-players were bracing for the prospect of anti-social behaviour from Perth fans towards the players this week due to loyalty to local hero Langer.

However, there’s been no evidence of that and players have been well supported.

BONNER RETIRES HURT AFTER NASTY KNOCK

Nkrumah Bonner is retiring hurt.

Details are still coming through at the moment but the number three batsman did get a nasty knock to the head in Cameron Green’s first over.

That was about 20 minutes ago but at the drinks break, he has decided to retire.

He will be assessed as the day goes on. If he is ruled out through concussion, a substitute can come into the game for him.

He was looking great in the middle. That is a big blow for the West Indies.

STATE OF PLAY: WEST INDIES 1/105

The West Indies have done an outstanding job to steady things after that early wicket.

Nkrumah Bonner had some rough moments when he first walked to the crease but he has looked solid for the past 45 minutes.

He has moved to 13 and is ticking the scoreboard over nicely.

Kraigg Brathwaite is the anchor at the other end of the crease, with his 30 runs coming off 110 balls.

It feels like the West Indies’ plan is just to survive as much of today as possible.

INJURY STRIKES AUSSIE ALL-ROUNDER

Australian star all-rounder Mitchell Marsh has joined Glenn Maxwell in being ruled out for the entire BBL with injury.

Marsh has undergone ankle surgery to fix a long standing issue and will miss three months of action, with a view to getting himself right for the build-up to next year’s 50-over World Cup.

Maxwell has been the biggest drawcard in BBL history and Marsh another leading light and their losses are profound.

WICKET: HAZLEWOOD HANDS AUSSIES DREAM START

Talk about the perfect start.

Through the brilliance of Josh Hazlewood, Australia has a wicket in the first over with Tagenarine Chanderpaul caught in the slips for 51.

That was a serious over.

Hazlewood hit the right length from the opening ball and had Chanderpaul playing and missing multiple times.

On the final delivery, he caught the edge and Warner swallowed it at first slip.

Dream start for the Aussies and a disaster for the West Indies.

TURNING POINT THAT STARTED WEST INDIES’ CRICKET DEMISE

Robert Craddock

Former Test fast bowler Merv Hughes always enjoys raising a smile with his work as a colourful guest speaker … except for one line.

When Hughes says “the best team I faced was the West Indies’’ he sometimes notes a smile or a giggle in the room as if people think it’s a joke and are waiting for the punchline.

But if you are Hughes’ age (61) or older there is no punchline because back in the day the punches were so often flying at windmill force in Australia’s direction.

There was not a lot to smile about the brutal treatment the mighty West Indian teams of the 1970s, 80s and early 90s dished out – not simply on Australia but the entire world.

Chances are the smiles are coming from cricket fans under the age of 40 who cannot be blamed for not recalling the carnage.

It is, after all, 30 years this summer since the West Indies won a Test series against Australia and an astonishing six series since they won a solitary Test against the baggy greens, a drought which seems set to continue following the work of Labuschagne, Smith and company in Perth.

It’s a stark contrast to the old days when the West Indies went 15 years (1980-95) without being beaten in a series – not just by Australia. By anyone. Twenty nine series in a row without a loss. Extraordinary.

Hughes spins yarns about that era when he and great mate Tony Dodemaide were copping it from great opening batsmen Gordon Greenidge and Desmond Haynes and looked up to the scoreboard and realised even if they did take a wicket things may even get worse … with Richie Richardson and Viv Richards next to come.

“I am not sure what has happened but I know a lot of the West Indian countries struggle financially with their cricket,’’ Hughes said.

“I remember West Indian players telling me many years ago that kids over there were watching a lot of American sports on television. I heard Curtly Ambrose say he wanted to play basketball but he only played cricket because his mother told him to play cricket … I hate his mother!’’

Remarkably, the Perth contest is the first Test between Australia and the West Indies in seven years and the gap says everything about Australia’s desire not to play them unless they have to.

It’s a far cry from the Windies wonder days of the 1970s when Kerry Packer tried to get them to Australia every year.

The stunning thing about the West Indies fate was not so much how far they fell but how they ever dominated to such a remarkable extent in the first place given that islands such as Antigua, Barbados and Trinidad are separate nations bound together by cricket and little else.

Many reasons are given for the Windies demise but one turning point in their fortunes came when English counties started losing interest in signing players from the Caribbean in the 1990s.

A legion of great West Indian players such as Richards and Joel Garner (Somerset), Malcolm Marshall (Hampshire), Michael Holding (Lancashire and Derbyshire) and Ambrose (Northamptonshire) learnt their craft in England.

But West Indian players have since fallen out of favour with English counties and England itself.

The next Future Tours Program contains no England Test tour of the West Indies which was once one of the great journeys in cricket, a hint that the slide of the once greatest cricket outfit of all time will only continue.

Originally published as Australia v West Indies: Follow all the day three action from the Perth Test

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