After last years unsatisfying fare, day one at the WACA was the cricket equivalent of a big juicy steak - or for vegans, an especially succulent mushroom. The ball flew off Matthew Pages pitch with bounce and pace, batsmen were startled onto the back foot where often they press forward, and a healthy crowd of 12,382 oohd and ahhd in obvious enjoyment.Australia, in search of a win to set the tone for the summer, were delighted by the carry for Mitchell Starc in the very first over of the morning. Peter Nevill was taking the ball up around shoulder height, and Stephen Cook fell off the fourth ball when he was unable to ride the bounce, like so many visiting batsmen of yore.Mitchell Marsh flew through the air at gully for the catch, and in an instant, numerous years of beige cricket on this ground were cancelled out. Memories harked instantly back to Dennis Lillee and Jeff Thomson, Malcolm Marshall and Curtly Ambrose. Had he seen bounce like that last year, Mitchell Johnson might still be playing now.It was all a reminder of how much the pitch is as much a character in the drama of Test cricket as the cricketers themselves, dictating the style of play, the interest of spectators and the urgency of the players. The match was being played at a pace the Australians love, redolent of southern summers under blue skies and raucous crowds.For a while, the hosts were dictating play to a domineering extent, scything through South Africas top order with an eye on batting not too long after lunch. An overpowering first-up performance with the ball has often been the cornerstone of Australian success, setting up the scoreboard and also opening up mental scars to be exploited later, even if subsequent pitches are not as slippery as Perth or, more often, Brisbane.The pre-lunch run of wickets was not sustained, as Temba Bavuma and Quinton de Kock led a fine rearguard, not dissimilar to that performed by Faf du Plessis from another ordinary South African start on this ground in 2012. This is something else about Australian-style cricket with which the hosts are well familiar. As hard as it can be to start against the new ball, the Kookaburra eases up as a projectile after an hour or two, while the evenness of pace and bounce allows batsmen - or bowlers with bat in hand - to get into a rhythm.The captain Steven Smith had noted this on match eve. That is one thing we have done well in Australia over the last couple of years, everyones contributed with the bat, he said. Ideally you want the batters to score some runs at the top of the order and in the middle order but when they havent, the guys at six, seven, eight, nine and ten have all contributed and been able to get us a big total. You want everyone working on their batting and hopefully getting us as big a total as possible. Knowledge of this scenario is important, as ring fields and steadier bowling replace the more hyper-aggressive stuff seen early on. Well though de Kock and Bavuma played, Smiths men knew that the opportunity had been opened to prevent a major first innings. Thanks to Starc, Hazlewood, Peter Siddle and Nathan Lyon, South Africas 242 left the visitors little margin for error with the ball.That opened things up for David Warner, who remains very much a batting pugilist no matter how beatific his mien appears to be away from the crease. He and Dale Steyn had traded prognostications in the lead-up to day one, the South Africans assertion about how the snake can die if you cut off the head answered by Warners hope that South Africa would get too excited by bounce and send down a series of spectacular but useless short balls. It was the second prediction the proved more correct.Warner has flayed plenty of visiting attacks in these parts, most notably India in January 2012 and New Zealand last summer, albeit on a far less hell-for-leather kind of pitch. This time around, he prospered from thick edges as much as deliveries striking the middle, at one point seeming to indicate to Steyn that he did not mean to send an upper-cut flying over the slips cordon.But the pace on the ball ensured that Warner would get value for shots snicked as well as struck, and a later upper-cut was more deliberate, resulting in a ball that cleared the boundary rope even as Warner was left, quite literally, on the seat of his pants. Pressure, relieved slightly on South Africa by their lower order flourish, was quickly transferred back as runs flowed at comfortably better than five per over. Vernon Philanders no-ball on a very adjacent LBW appeal grew increasingly costly with each passing minute.There is still plenty of cricket to be played in this match - the surface will likely quicken further on the second morning, offering the possibility of quick wickets to open up an Australian middle order lacking anyone of de Kocks class. Even so, Smiths Australians packed up for the evening confident in the knowledge that away defeats have not dulled their innate sense of how to play at home, particularly on red-blooded days like these. Compliments to the chef. Cheap NBA Jerseys 2020 . -- Edmontons Val Sweeting is two wins away from a trip to Winnipeg to play in Canadas Road of the Rings in December. Jerseys Basketball China . You can watch the game live on TSN at 7:30pm et/4:30pm pt. The Flyers had won seven of eight before dropping their last two outings on consecutive days over the weekend. Philadelphia was handed a 6-3 loss by the visiting Tampa Bay Lightning on Saturday afternoon before dropping a 4-1 decision to the Rangers the following night in New York City. http://www.cheapjerseysnbaoutlet.com/ .ca NFL Power Rankings, overtaking the Denver Broncos and remaining ahead of NFC competition San Francisco, Carolina and New Orleans. China Basketball Jerseys . He was followed closely by David Clarkson, donning red, seconds later. Clarksons actions one night earlier, leaping off the bench in defence of Kessel during a pre-season game against the Buffalo Sabres, will cost him the first 10 games of the regular season. Cheap Basketball Jerseys Free Shipping . On Saturday night, the normally free throw-challenged centre did just that. Howard scored 18 of his 25 points in the fourth quarter, including 13 of 19 free throws in a 2 1/2-minute stretch, and the Houston Rockets beat the Denver Nuggets 122-111. Mohammad Amir has had awful luck since he returned from suspension, having at least 11 catches go down off his bowling in Tests; but he had a sense of humour about his misfortune, and suggested the team suffers more from dropped catches than he does.Amir had four chances missed off his bowling in the ongoing Hamilton Test: two in the slips, one at midwicket, plus a difficult low catch that he himself dropped in his follow through. Catches off his bowling had also gone down through the mid-year Tests in England, and more recently against West Indies as well.Yes, it affects the bowler when you run from 22 yards and your catch is dropped - youre disappointed and frustrated, Amir said. But it affects the team more than the individual. Ive been very unlucky, but I try to be a team man.Its difficult to keep count, but I think at least 12-13 catches have gone down off my bowling in Tests and about six-seven catches have been dropped in the shorter formats as well.Chances were also missed off the bowling of Wahab Riaz on Monday, and the reprieves allowed New Zealand to shore up their dominant position in the match, hitting 313 for 5 declared in the second innings to set Pakistan 369 for victory. If Pakistan fail to win this Test, they will lose their No. 2 ranking - a fact Amir said will motivate them to attempt the target on day five.The ranking is very important and weve achieved it after a lot of hard work, he said. In the last sseven series, weve won about five.dddddddddddd Its very important for us. We like to be among the top teams in the world. Tomorrow there will be 98 overs to bowl, and the first session will be very important. If we can lay a platform, well try to achieve the target. Well try to break the target up into smaller scores, and go about it that way.New Zealand had taken a 55-run lead into the second innings, but Pakistan may still have put pressure on the hosts if they had taken quick wickets on day four. Many of Mondays overs might have been bowled by legspinner Yasir Shah, had he been in the XI, but despite New Zealands eventual scoreline, Amir was confident the best side had been selected.The decision to play four seamers was the correct one, he said. So far theres been a very limited role for the spinners, so the decision to play four quicks was right. The track has improved for batting. The ball is coming onto the bat and its become easier to play shots. Theres a good possibility that we will bat well.Having won the toss on a green-top, however, Amir said Pakistan should have been more clinical on the first and second days.The score of 271 in the first innings when we bowled was on the higher side. We should have got them out for a lower score. 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