Mitchell Starc became part of the 350 Test wickets club with a 3-11 in the first session of the pink-ball Test at the Gabba, reducing West Indies to a precarious 64/5 at tea.

In improved batting conditions on the first day, the West Indies had little qualms in doing the obvious. Still, the choice backfired horribly on the visitors, with batters continuing to fall to negligent shots following the Adelaide disaster. Starc was the destroyer-in-chief, scoring three times in the second half of the practice to set up his squad.

To their credit, openers Tagenarine Chanderpaul and Kraigg Braithwaite fought valiantly for the first 30 minutes to get through Starc and Josh Hazlewood’s difficult opening spells.

A 33-run partnership occurred for the second wicket, with Kirk McKenzie settling in immediately and playing with positive intent, smoking a Nathan Lyon full delivery into the long-on stands. But one shot too many, and the No. 3 was forced to walk back, with Pat Cummins breaking the innovative combination. After being beaten by the previous ball, McKenzie attempted another spectacular cut off a shortish delivery outside off and ended up edging to the right of the first slip, where Usman Khawaja showed terrific reactions.

Starc showed up for a second period on the other side of the drinks break, replacing Lyon, and needed only two balls to make a mark as Chanderpaul paid the price for fishing outside off after scoring a respectable 21. The veteran pacer reached 350 Test wickets in the next over when Alick Athanaze was hit by another poor shot attempting to drive away from his body.

Khawaja pulled another crisp, low catch at the start of the session break, marking the end of Justin Greaves’ brief stint in the middle. Starc’s third wicket completed a spectacular collapse of 4 for 22.

Brief scores: West Indies 64/5 (Kirk McKenzie 21, Tagenarine Chanderpaul 21; Mitchell Starc 2-11) vs Australia