Skipper Steve Smith spoke about a new era of Australia cricket before the first Test against New Zealand and his side launched it in some style with a thumping 208-run victory to take a 1-0 lead in the three-match series on Monday.
Smith took charge permanently for the first time at the Gabba after succeeding Michael Clarke and there were concerns his side might be vulnerable after Chris Rogers, Brad Haddin and Shane Watson joined his predecessor in retirement.
The top order was a particular worry but new vice captain David Warner was named Man of the Match on Monday after scoring two centuries, while his new opening partner Joe Burns and recalled number three Usman Khawaja both scored maiden hundreds.
“I thought the first morning really set the tone for us with Joe Burns and Davy Warner batting so well,” Smith told a news conference. “I thought the top order set the Test match up for us. The partnerships that we had in that top three were crucial to our success.”
With such strong starts to both innings – Burns and Warner shared opening partnerships of 161 and 237 – the often under-fire all-rounder Mitchell Marsh had little chance to impress with the bat.
He did, however, improve his chances of retaining his spot for the second Test in Perth when he took the wicket of New Zealand skipper Brendon McCullum and flirted with a hat-trick before finishing with figures of 2-25 on Monday.
“He came on and bowled with decent pace at the end,” Smith said.
“He hadn’t contributed much in the test match so it was nice that he could come on and do really decent job for us.”
The part of the team most Australians were not concerned about before the Test was the pace attack, but Smith suggested Mitchell Johnson, Mitchell Starc and Josh Hazlewood needed to up their game for the Perth Test, which starts on Friday.
“Our new ball bowling needs a little bit of improvement, I think we bowled a bit too short,” he said.
“We don’t normally do that here, we usually get the ball up and make the batters drive and I think that’s going to be important leading into Perth, which are probably going to be pretty similar conditions.”
Both captains said the game was played in a good spirit but Smith was disappointed that Starc had thrown the ball at New Zealand tail ender Mark Craig towards the end of the match when there was no run-out possible.
“It was just a bit of frustration and I think he just needs to let it out in other ways,” Smith added.
“He’s done it a few times before and I’m going to have a word to him when we get back to the sheds.”
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What is the FNC?
The Federal National Council is one of five federal authorities established by the UAE constitution. It held its first session on December 2, 1972, a year to the day after Federation.
It has 40 members, eight of whom are women. The members represent the UAE population through each of the emirates. Abu Dhabi and Dubai have eight members each, Sharjah and Ras al Khaimah six, and Ajman, Fujairah and Umm Al Quwain have four.
They bring Emirati issues to the council for debate and put those concerns to ministers summoned for questioning.
The FNC’s main functions include passing, amending or rejecting federal draft laws, discussing international treaties and agreements, and offering recommendations on general subjects raised during sessions.
Federal draft laws must first pass through the FNC for recommendations when members can amend the laws to suit the needs of citizens. The draft laws are then forwarded to the Cabinet for consideration and approval.
Since 2006, half of the members have been elected by UAE citizens to serve four-year terms and the other half are appointed by the Ruler’s Courts of the seven emirates.
In the 2015 elections, 78 of the 252 candidates were women. Women also represented 48 per cent of all voters and 67 per cent of the voters were under the age of 40.