WI tour of Oz, Jan 17 - Feb 13

[Durhamfootman]

well done to the Windies and well done to Shamar Joseph

an unexpected result to wake up to, but a pleasant one

[Durhamfootman]

seems that Shamar might have been bowling with a broken toe and pain killing injections today. Remarkable performance

[bigfluffylemon]

The decision to declare behind looks rather overconfident now.

[GarlicJam]

Shamar Joseph, take a bow. What an extraordinary performance.

And at the Gabbatoir as well, where Australia have only lost once in 35 years before today.

Smith nearly took it home - 91 not out, and the margin just 8 runs.

One of the great away wins for the West Indies.

100%

(and Shamar took many a bow)

The home cricket this summer has been very good watching, with some high quality cricket mixed with some not so goods.

This test topped it off well - but who wouldn't be keen for a third test, starting in a week? I'm sure the folks wearing maroon would.

Well done the West Indies.

Not only was it a great, and deserved, win today, but you have charmed many an Australian cricket fan.

A very low key Australia holding up the trophy. This is two of the major bilateral trophies they only hold onto due to history, not currency.

[sussexpob]

A crazy day of test cricket this morning....

[bigfluffylemon]

We can surely expect big things from Shamar.

[alfie]

Quite the treat for lovers of Test Cricket : two enthralling matches at once ! - and in a convenient time zone - for me anyway
Only trouble was having to do a lot of channel changing and quick rewinding to keep on top of the action...nice of England to finish off their game in time for an uninterrupted viewing of the final stages in Brisbane...

What a performance by young Joseph ! Especially after that crack on his foot the night before : I wasn't at all sure he'd be able to bowl at all - apparently he wasn't either ! A very impressive young fellow , as he'd already shown in Adelaide. And all the more pleasing as he's said he is determined to prioritise Tests over any potential franchise offers - you can bet there will be plenty coming his way after this .
Add to the handy batting of one or two of the new players - still only modest , but decent signs for the likes of McKenzie - and West Indies are surely going to take a lot from this , apart from the honour of crashing Fortress 'Gabba and the perfect Australian pink ball record , and winning here for the first time in decades.

Whether it will be enough to swing a return to the old love of the Test scene throughout the Caribbean in this modern world remains to be seen ; but it gives some cause for hope.

As for Australia , the good thing that can be taken in this defeat is that the "Smith opening and Green at four " project actually got off the ground in this second innings. Still early days ; NZ will be another test.

[alfie]

Ha ha ...lack of sleep can be a devil : just realised I wrote the first paragraph (above post) sort of back to front

Should of course read "nice of Aus/WI to finish their game early to allow uninterrupted viewing of the end in India"

I really wasn't using the Tardis to watch them both...

[sussexpob]

As for Australia , the good thing that can be taken in this defeat is that the "Smith opening and Green at four " project actually got off the ground in this second innings. Still early days ; NZ will be another test.

I will eat my hat if Cameron Green ends a test class 4 bat. He once again on paper added a few runs, but much like at times in the Ashes, had to expel a lot of luck just to get minor scores on the board. He strikes me as a player who has some patience and mentality to want to bat long, but none of the technique to back it up.... footwork is poor to non-existant, and he often just plants his feet and leans in or away from the ball to control his front/back foot strokes. Noticeably poor to anything pitched short of a length or further short, and consistently picked up these lengths wrongly.... in this test not so much, but he looked rubbish to bouncers in England, and in this last innings alone he tried to pull one ball that nearly bowled him that was suicidally bad reading the length, and then played a sort of back foot drive that whizzed past the stumps to another ball that wasnt short enough (or wide enough) for the shot.

Might be a number 7 in tests that offers some bowling to go with the occasional batting score, but a test match 4 ? no way, I just dont see it.

[sussexpob]

Maybe some of Australia's problems are temporary. Marnus will surely turn around his form, as will Khawaja and maybe Smith. Head is also on a leaner patch, but his record away from home is pretty terrible, so its doubtful it improves on the road.

But at the moment, you have a top 3 of quality players not at their best. You have a test 4 that isn't convincing. The 5 is not at his best and will be exposed away from Australia. And Mitchell Marsh at 6 is just not good enough. Which makes Carey at 7, an old fashioned average 30 wicketkeeper, somewhat of a luxury.

If anything, Australia need some middle order bats to add stability. At the moment you get them 3 down early, you can be confident of knocking them out

[sussexpob]

Whether it will be enough to swing a return to the old love of the Test scene throughout the Caribbean in this modern world remains to be seen ; but it gives some cause for hope

When Joseph castled Hazlewood and proceeded to sprint around like a madman with the rest of his team, are we supposed to believe the Windies doesnt care about this format? Because I have seen teams celebrate less winning world cups or Olympic medals, this victory meant a lot to this team, and they played hard for it during this test. This doesn't tell me that all Windies cricketers rather be somewhere else earning dollar for slogging the ball around.

One thing that does make me wonder about the significance of this series for the Windies..... the board removed all the players that didn't have their heart in the squad, and then they win a test for the first time in 27 years in Australia. Could just be creating narratives on freak occurances, and time will tell.... but has it done Windies some good to remove people who werent interested in this format with supposedly inferior players who want to be there?

Test cricket really needs a few countries like Windies to start competing again. We all know the potential is there in the Caribbean, lets hope this kickstarts something again.

[GarlicJam]

of course S Joseph has set a standard for himself that he cannot hope to maintain, but he sure is an exciting prospect.

In good news for West Indies cricket, he has declared his intention of always being available for test cricket, regardless of what monies the T20 game throws his way. I hope he sticks to that. The temptation to set yourself up for life with a few years travelling the world in the circus circus must be very promising.

[andy]

I believe Joseph when he says that, haven't seen that passion in a west indian cricketer for a long long time...these guys are playing for the love of the game, not a paycheck and that is so refreshing to see

[mikesiva]

Whether it will be enough to swing a return to the old love of the Test scene throughout the Caribbean in this modern world remains to be seen ; but it gives some cause for hope

When Joseph castled Hazlewood and proceeded to sprint around like a madman with the rest of his team, are we supposed to believe the Windies doesnt care about this format? Because I have seen teams celebrate less winning world cups or Olympic medals, this victory meant a lot to this team, and they played hard for it during this test. This doesn't tell me that all Windies cricketers rather be somewhere else earning dollar for slogging the ball around.

One thing that does make me wonder about the significance of this series for the Windies..... the board removed all the players that didn't have their heart in the squad, and then they win a test for the first time in 27 years in Australia. Could just be creating narratives on freak occurances, and time will tell.... but has it done Windies some good to remove people who werent interested in this format with supposedly inferior players who want to be there?

Test cricket really needs a few countries like Windies to start competing again. We all know the potential is there in the Caribbean, lets hope this kickstarts something again.

What we're seeing in the West Indies now, is that there's a clear distinction between those who play white ball cricket, and those who play red ball cricket.

Of this current Test team, only Alzarri is a regular in the limited overs cricket team. Whether that continues to be the case remains to be seen. Sinclair and Shamar could make an impact in this year's CPL in August, and we'll see what happens then. But the rest of the Test side are not T20 players.

[alfie]

As for Australia , the good thing that can be taken in this defeat is that the "Smith opening and Green at four " project actually got off the ground in this second innings. Still early days ; NZ will be another test.

I will eat my hat if Cameron Green ends a test class 4 bat. He once again on paper added a few runs, but much like at times in the Ashes, had to expel a lot of luck just to get minor scores on the board. He strikes me as a player who has some patience and mentality to want to bat long, but none of the technique to back it up.... footwork is poor to non-existant, and he often just plants his feet and leans in or away from the ball to control his front/back foot strokes. Noticeably poor to anything pitched short of a length or further short, and consistently picked up these lengths wrongly.... in this test not so much, but he looked rubbish to bouncers in England, and in this last innings alone he tried to pull one ball that nearly bowled him that was suicidally bad reading the length, and then played a sort of back foot drive that whizzed past the stumps to another ball that wasnt short enough (or wide enough) for the shot.

Might be a number 7 in tests that offers some bowling to go with the occasional batting score, but a test match 4 ? no way, I just dont see it.

Oh I am far from convinced that Green will be a success at four (in my opinion he's a the alternative to Marsh at six , at least at this point in his career) But he is held in extraordinarily high regard in this country , by players and officials - which is why they were so eager to take advantage of Smith's wish to go up the order. Nathan Lyon was just quoted as suggesting Green would be "the next Kallis" batting at four...
I will be very interested to see how he goes in NZ. But even if he doesn't shine to a huge degree I will be surprised if they don't continue to show faith in him. Comments that he is clearly in the best six bats in Australia would be hard to walk back quickly.

Does all this raise some questions about the depth of batting talent in Australia at the moment (as opposed to bowling which still looks pretty well equipped - although the "spares" aren't getting too many chances at the moment) ? Guess we will find out over the next couple of years as Khawaja surely won't play forever...