West Indies vice-captain Denesh Ramdin hopes he and Travis Dowlin can forge a fightback come day three of the first Test against Australia at the Gabbba in Brisbane.

The tourists fell to 96 for five in reply to the Aussies' 480 for eight declared before wicketkeeper-batsman Ramdin and middle-order performer Dowlin added 38 for the sixth wicket to take the Windies to 134 for five at stumps, still 346 runs shy of the hosts' first-innings effort.

"I'm a bit disappointed with the way things went," Ramdin rued on Friday.

"We lost probably two wickets more than we expected. Having said that, Travis and I are there and batting quite well at the moment. We'll see how it goes on Saturday."

Australian-born Brendan Nash, playing his first game at the Gabba since exiting the Queensland ranks in 2006, scored just 18 runs before falling to seamer Shane Watson.

"I'm sure he went out there with a few nerves," Ramdin said of his team-mate. "He hit a couple of boundaries there and I'm sure he wanted to press on and get some runs in front of his people and his fans.

Unfortunately that's cricket. Hopefully he gets another chance in the second innings."

Earlier, Earlier Marcus North (79) was denied a century in his first Test on Australian soil, but Nathan Hauritz's highest score at international level pushed the hosts' total past 450.

North shared in a crucial 84-run stand with Brad Haddin, but their efforts were comfortably overshadowed by the clean hitting of Hauritz.

Hauritz, playing his first Test at the ground he once called home, made the tourists pay full price for offering him a reprieve when he was on five and the score was 393 for seven.

Hauritz joined Ponting (55), Simon Katich (92), Michael Hussey (66) and North as Australia's half-centurions, and did it in some kind of style.

The tail-ender punished anything short, with three sizzling pull shots the highlight of his 90-ball stay at the crease.

Such was Hauritz's flair that when he and North brought up their 50-run stand, the West Australian had contributed just nine runs despite being at the crease for the better part of four hours.

The tourists dismissed Haddin (38) and Johnson (seven) in the opening session - a fair result considering the loss of spearhead Jerome Taylor.

Johnson's dismissal gave the DRS - in use for the first time in Australia - its first serious workout in Brisbane.

The DRS was brought into play shortly before lunch in the opening session when Johnson asked for a review after umpire Ian Gould adjudicated he was out edging to Ramdin.

Third umpire Mark Benson studied the slow-motion replay, hotspot technology, and the on-field microphone's recording, but did not find enough evidence to overturn Gould's decision.

The rules of the Decision Review System state that the benefit of the doubt must be given to the on-field umpire, and while replays suggested Johnson did in fact miss the ball, the evidence was not conclusive enough.

However as has been the case for much of the first two days, the visitors were unable to sustain the pressure.