Australia Story

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Levitt to coach Aussies

Cricket Australia today confirmed the appointment of former Essex coach Chris Levitt as the successor to the outgoing Tim Nielsen at a press conference today. The Englishman, born in Basildon who then went on to coach his home county said he was absolutely delighted to take the role


The outgoing Tim Nielsen

Levitt also stated that he knew the expectations of coaching the top ranked side in the world in all forms of the game, and was aware of the incredibly pressured task ahead of him. He also stated that the loss of great servants to Australia such as Adam Gilchrist, Shane Warne and Glenn McGrath would ultimately hinder his side, but that he believed there are a host of exciting players who can fill their shoes. Levitt also confirmed Ricky Ponting would continue in his role as captain of the side, and that Michael Clarke has kept his position as vice-captain.


Punter will continue to lead his troops

Levitt's first task as Australia coach is to examine the players available to him and select an 18-man squad for the tour of the West Indies

West Indies Tour Squad Announced
New Australia coach Chris Levitt was in the spotlight today as he named his first Australia squad for the upcoming tour of the West Indies. Speculation was rife as to whether Levitt would use this squad as an opportunity to use new players or whether he would use the old guard which had served Australia so well under the reigns of both Tim Nielsen and John Buchanan before him. The squad is as follows:

18-man squad for the tour of West Indies
Michael Hussey
Matthew Hayden
Phil Jacques
Ricky Ponting (c)
Michael Clarke (vc)
Simon Katich
Brad Hodge
Brad Haddin (wk)
Tim Paine (wk)
Shane Watson
James Hopes
Andrew Symonds
Cameron White
Peter Siddle
Brett Lee
Stuart Clark
Mitchell Johnson
Shaun Tait

The squad saw a couple of surprises with the inclusion of fast bowler Peter Siddle who has performed well at domestic level. The absence of Adam Gilchrist has been highlighted with the inclusion of two uncapped Test Match keepers in Brad Haddin and Tim Paine. With the absence of an out and out spinner for the tour, Cameron White will be hoping to do enough to earn his Test Match debut too. Notable absentees include the likes of Jason Gillespie and Nathan Bracken, with Levitt opting to use less experienced options in Siddle, Johnson and Tait.

The series will consist of a warm up three-day game at Guyana, followed by three Tests, a Twenty20 internatonal, a warm up in Barbados and a series of five ODIs. Guyana is the destination for the first match of the tour

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Guyana vs Australia
Three Day Game

Team News: Australia coach Chris Levitt has used this tour match as an opportunity to finalise his squad for the First Test against the West Indies by including a host of the fringe players battling for that starting birth. The likes of Jacques, Katich, Hodge, Siddle, Tait and White all play in a team which looks as follows:

Simon Katich
Phil Jaques
Ricky Ponting (c)
Brad Hodge
Brad Haddin
Tim Paine (wk)
Shane Watson
Cameron White
Mitchell Johnson
Peter Siddle
Shaun Tait

Australia lost the toss and will bowl first

Story of Day 1
The first morning of Levitt's reign started with a bang as the Australian attack skittled the Guyana batsmen, dismissing them for a mere 87 inside 33 overs. Wickets were shared across the board, with tidy spells from Peter Siddle and Mitchell Johnson seeing them take three wickets each. Australia finished the day on 151-1 after a century opening stand between Phil Jaques and Simon Katich saw both go past 50, with Katich eventually falling for 68. Ricky Ponting then joined Jaques at the crease for the final few overs who finished on 72 not out at the close of play

Guyana 87 all out - N Deonarine 18, P Siddle 3-20
Australia 151-1 - P Jaques 72*, R King 1-51



Story of Day 2
Day 2 started with Australia losing the early wickets of Ricky Ponting for 7 and with Phil Jaques not troubling the score and going for 72. Both Brad Hodge and Tim Paine came in and reach their 50s before falling for 53 and 62 respectively, before Brad Haddin stole the show with an unbeaten 102 to all but secure his Test debut. Australia declared on 427-7, a lead of 340 runs. Peter Siddle also managed to dent the Guyana reply, taking a late wicket to leave the hosts 10-1 at close

Guyana 87 all out - N Deonarine 18, P Siddle 3-20
Australia 151-1 - B Haddin 102*, R King 4-125
Guyana 10-1 - R Sarwan 5, P Siddle 1-10


Brad Haddin celebrates century

Story of Day 3
Guyana provided slightly more resistance but Australia were able to wrap up the game before Tea after bowling the hosts out for 170. An early breakthrough from Siddle removing the dangerous Sarwan for 33, followed by good back up from Mitchell Johnson and Cameron White saw the game finish early and give Aussie coach Levitt some selection dilemnas for the First Test.

Guyana 87 all out - N Deonarine 18, P Siddle 3-20
Australia 151-1 - B Haddin 102*, R King 4-125
Guyana 170 all out -Z Mohamed 42, P Siddle 4-32

Australia win by an innings and 170 runs
MOTM: Peter Siddle


A star in the making?

Next up for Levitt's men is the First Test against the West Indies, his first competitive game as Australia coach

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West Indies vs Australia
First Test Match

Team News: Coach Chris Levitt has shown faith in both Brad Haddin and Peter Siddle after their strong performance in the warm-up game and give both players their first cap. A host of familiar faces return to the reckoning, giving us the following side:

Matthew Hayden
Michael Hussey
Ricky Ponting (c)
Phil Jaques
Michael Clarke
Simon Katich
Brad Haddin (wk)
Mitchell Johnson
Brett Lee
Stuart Clark
Peter Siddle

Australia won the toss and have elected to bat first

Story of Day One
Australia dominated the first day of play after amassing 299 for the loss of just 2 wickets. An opening stand of 86 between Matthew Hayden and Michael Hussey set the Aussies off to a perfect start, before Hussey fell for 36. This bought captain Ricky Ponting to the crease, who went on to share a stand of 203 with Hayden as both went past their centuries, with Hayden falling for 146 shortly before the close of play. Rain bought a premature end to play as the West Indies toiled in the field.

Australia 299-2 - M Hayden 146, D Sammy 2-68

Story of Day Two
Day 2 was the Ricky Ponting show as the Australian captain smashed his Test best score and totalled a huge 269 not out to put his side in pole position to win the First Test Match. Very adequate support from Phil Jaques who scored 49 and Michael Clarke who smashed a quickfire 64 left the Aussies declaring at the end of Day 2 with a huge score of 583-4 dec, a score surely too tough for the Windies to overcome.

Australia 583-4d - R Ponting 269*, D Sammy 3-147


Ponting shows his exceptional ability

Story of Day Three
The West Indies responded on Day Three and showed some resistance after battling to a score of 315-8 at the close of play. Chris Gayle showed his class from the off, and was unlucky not to reach his century falling just short for 96. The Australian seam attack looked potent in patches, with Mitchell Johnson the pick of the bowlers, but he was frustrated along with the rest of his side by the efforts of all-rounder Austin Richards who finished the day 80 not out, and with the West Indies 68 runs short of the follow on target.

Australia 583-4d - R Ponting 269*, D Sammy 3-147
West Indies 315-8 - C Gayle 96, M Johnson 3-68


Chris Gayle offers some Windies resistance

Story of Day Four
Australia battled back to set up a likely chance of victory in this First Test after taking 10 wickets to leave the West Indies with just two remaining in order to save the game. Brett Lee took the two early wickets needed with relative ease, meaning the West Indies fell 40 runs short of their follow-on target. Their second innings again showed signs of resistance with Ramnaresh Sarwan ending the day on 93 not out. However, wickets fell too frequently, with the majority to Stuart Clark, leaving the Windies 66 runs ahead with two second innings wickets in hand

Australia 583-4d - R Ponting 269*, D Sammy 3-147
West Indies 343 all out - C Gayle 96, B Lee 4-95
West Indies 306-8 - R Sarwan 93*, S Clark 4-58


Sarwan will try to delay the inevitable

Story of Day Five
Australia avoided a momentary scare in order to complete the job and take the First Test of the three match series after winning by 5 wickets. Mitchell Johnson took two wickets in the first over of the day to bowl the Windies out for 306 and to give Australia a simple target of 66 for the win. However, the Australian top order kept fans nervous after losing 5 wickets during the chase, leaving Brad Haddin to hit the winning runs on his debut. The result marks a convincing start to Levitt's reign in charge

Australia 583-4d - R Ponting 269*, D Sammy 3-147
West Indies 343 all out - C Gayle 96, B Lee 4-95
West Indies 306 all out - R Sarwan 93, S Clark 4-58
Australia 68-5 - M Hayden 20, J Taylor 2-12

Australia win by 5 wickets and go 1-0 in the 3-match series
MOTM: Ricky Ponting


Australia celebrate their early wickets which set up the win

Attention now turns to the Second Test, as Levitt's Australia will be hoping to pick up the result and take an unassailable 2-0 lead in the series. The squad for the 2nd test will be announced shortly, with no news of any injury concerns in the Australian camp

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West Indies vs Australia
Second Test Match

Aussie coach Chris Levitt makes no changes and sticks with the same XI which won the First Test. The line up is as follows:

Matthew Hayden
Michael Hussey
Ricky Ponting (c)
Phil Jaques
Michael Clarke
Simon Katich
Brad Haddin (wk)
Mitchell Johnson
Brett Lee
Stuart Clark
Peter Siddle

Story of Day One
Australia shaded proceedings on Day One, with most of the credit falling to skipper Ricky Ponting who scored 137 before falling shortly before close. He shared a 4th wicket stand of 205 with Phil Jaques who made 91, to leave the tourists 299-4 at close

Australia 299-4 - R Ponting 137, D Sammy 2-75


Ponting continues his good form with the bat

Story of Day Two
The second day belonged to the Aussie batsmen as a huge stand of 252 for the 6th wicket saw both Simon Katich and Michael Clarke hit scores of 128 before falling. The duo took the game away from the West Indies and left Australia 636-9 at close of play

Australia 636-9d - R Ponting 137, C Collymore 4-172


Katich and Clarke share huge stand for Australia

Story of Day Three
Rain delayed the start of Day Three and when play finally got under way, the West Indies battled to a score of 256-7, still 180 runs short of the follow on target. Dinesh Ramdin hit an unbeaten 64no to give his side some hope of salvaging a draw.

Australia 636-9d - R Ponting 137, C Collymore 4-172
West Indies 256-7 - D Ramdin 64*, P Siddle 2-51

Story of Day Four
Day Four belonged again to the Aussies, and this time with the ball. Dinesh Ramdin went on to complete a score of 120 not out but the hosts were bowled out for 358, meaning Australia enforced the follow-on. The second innings saw a steady start with Devon Smith making 55 before a dramatic collapse and deadly bowling from Peter Siddle and Mitchell Johnson saw the Windies fall from 141-4 to 172-8 at close

Australia 636-9d - R Ponting 137, C Collymore 4-172
West Indies 358 - D Ramdin 120*, B Lee 4-89
West Indies 172-8 D Smith 55, P Siddle 3-39


Siddle skittles the Windies

Story of Day Five
The game was concluded inside 5 overs as the Windies could only add 10 runs to the score, and lost their remaining wickets to Stuart Clark, being bowled out for 182

Australia 636-9d - R Ponting 137, C Collymore 4-172
West Indies 358 - D Ramdin 120*, B Lee 4-89
West Indies 182 - D Smith 55, S Clark 3-38

Australia win by an innings and 96 runs and go 2-0 up in the three match series
MOTM: Ricky Ponting


Aussie celebrate another series win

With the series won, attention now turns to Chris Levitt's selection for the Third Test, and whether the Aussie coach will use it as a opportunity to try different players