Australia set their fielding benchmark

If fielding is the barometer of success – as Greg Chappell and others have suggested – then Australia put themselves on the right path for their 2015 winter Tests with a clinical demonstration of the discipline on the opening day of the first Test against the West Indies.

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Fielding coach Greg Blewett said he was "absolutely rapt" with Australia's efforts in the field on day one, as five catches were taken that could have just as easily gone begging.

The standard was set by skipper Michael Clarke, who pouched three chances for the innings including two beauties diving away to his left, from Nathan Lyon and Josh Hazlewood.

Hazlewood himself took a well-judged catch on the fine-leg boundary to remove Marlon Samuels, the fast bowler moving well to his right and taking the catch over his left shoulder as he stood just inches inside the boundary rope.

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Shaun Marsh also took a sharp catch diving to his right at gully, but the pick of the day came from debutant Adam Voges.

Fielding at midwicket, Voges turned and chased towards the boundary when Jerome Taylor top-edged a pull shot off a short delivery from Steve Smith.

As the ball sailed over his head, Voges – who was staring straight into the afternoon sun – kept moving and dove to take an extremely difficult catch and wrap up a complete performance from the Aussies in the field.

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Ahead of a busy winter schedule, which includes the Ashes in July and August, Blewett was thrilled that his players had started their first Test in almost five months in impressive fashion.

"I suppose the first game of any series, I think everyone is a little bit anxious, including the coaches," Blewett said.

"But as ‘Pup’ (Clarke) has been saying over the last three or four days, the attitude of the boys has been brilliant. They’ve absolutely trained the house down.

"I had a chat to them at start of the tour. We really wanted to concentrate on our catching.

"We had a really good World Cup fielding-wise but in the Test matches (against India and Pakistan last summer) we weren’t as sharp as we normally are.

"Two big series; this and then obviously we’ve got an eye on the Ashes.

"It was a really important day because the first day sometimes sets the scene a little bit.

"If you drop a couple of catches then sometimes the heads go down and the confidence suffers a little bit.

"There were some brilliant catches today so I’m absolutely rapt."

Australia's fielding display comes after a disappointing display in their two most recent Test series, against Pakistan and India last summer.

Coach Darren Lehmann described Australia's fielding as "shoddy, at best" following the third Test in Melbourne, while Brad Haddin also labelled the fielding at the MCG "unacceptable".

The dropped chances continued during the fourth Test at the SCG in early January, with captain Steve Smith acknowledging the Aussies had a lot of work to do to lift their fielding standards.

That Test coincided with Blewett – who had linked with the Australians and his former Test and state teammate Lehmann in August – taking personal leave to fly home to Adelaide for the birth of his son Samuel.

Blewett's departure signalled the return of experienced American coach Mike Young to the Australian set-up, with before the South Australian re-joined the team soon after for the Carlton Mid ODI Tri-Series preceding the World Cup.

The fielding improved markedly during the 50-over part of the summer and after a difficult Test series, Blewett was pleased his methods and the hard work of the team was validated with a near-perfect display at Windsor Park.

"I’ve been through a bit of a rough patch with the lads dropping a few and today we had a good day," he said.

"It’s important that everyone keeps a bit of an even keel and doesn’t get too carried away.

"It was a challenging summer for a lot of reasons.

"That started in the UAE. (Pakistan) batted beautifully and kept us out in the field for long periods of time in some very hot weather.

"The boys just got drained.

"And then we all know what happened at the start of the summer and mentally maybe the boys weren’t quite there.

"We got some great results but I think it probably showed up a little bit in the field.

"We’ve got some really good fielders throughout our group so I knew we wouldn’t keep going like we were last summer with the Test matches."