Australia only needed seven sessions to topple the West Indies at Adelaide Oval this week, defeating the tourists by ten wickets and taking a 1-0 lead in the two-match series.
After the West Indies were rolled for 120, courtesy of an eleventh Test five-wicket haul for Josh Hazlewood, Australia chased the 26-run target in less than seven overs.
However, the hosts will be sweating on Usman Khawaja’s fitness after the opener copped a sickening blow to the jaw on Friday morning, putting him in danger of missing next week’s series finale at the Gabba.
Hometown hero Travis Head was named player of the match for his entertaining 119 on day two, but West Indies debutant Shamar Joseph stole the show with his maiden five-wicket haul and batting cameos at No. 11.
The second Test between Australia and West Indies gets underway at the Gabba on Thursday, with the first ball scheduled for 3pm AEDT.
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AUS v WI: 1st Test, Day 3 Highlights | 08:19
AUSTRALIA’S TENTH-WICKET WOES DEEPEN
It was a near-perfect bowling performance from the Australians this week — with one obvious exception.
Pat Cummins’ men have time and time again struggled to wrap up the innings as lengthy tenth-wicket partnerships continue to frustrate Australia’s bowlers.
On day one of the Adelaide Test, West Indies debutant Shamar Joseph and veteran bowler Kemar Roach put together 55 for the tenth wicket, the team’s only fifty-run partnership of the match.
Less than 48 hours later, Joseph and Roach once again occupied the crease for longer than anticipated, combining for a 26-run partnership to ensure Australia needed to bat again on day three.
Tenth-wicket partnerships contributed 26.3 per cent of the West Indies’ runs in Adelaide, while Joseph’s 51 runs across the match was the third-highest tally by a No. 11 against Australia in Test history.
During this month’s New Year’s Test at the SCG, Pakistan tailenders Aamir Jamal and Mir Hamza put together 86 in the first innings, while you don’t have to be reminded of what happened during the 2019 Ashes Test at Headingley.
This summer, opposition teams have averaged 24.37 for the tenth wicket against Australia, compared to 16.50 for the first wicket and 15.62 for the fifth.
Most runs scored by a No. 11 against Australia in a Test match
55 — Andy Caddick (ENG) at Edgbaston, 2001
54 — Pat Symcox (RSA) at Adelaide Oval, 1998
51 — Shamar Joseph (WI) at Adelaide Oval, 2024
47 — Muthiah Muralidaran (SL) at Kandy, 2004
Australia’s seamers only have themselves to blame, persisting with bouncers when the opposition’s tailenders are in the middle — but the strategy hasn’t worked thus far. While Joseph and Roach were at the crease during the first innings of the Adelaide Test, only one delivery out of 83 from Australia’s quicks would have hit the stumps.
“I think all the bowlers can just bat these days,” Australian bowler Josh Hazlewood told reporters in Adelaide on Wednesday.
“They can all hang on to it. They’ve all got good confidence. They’ve got a couple of shots.
“Often the best ball to the top six is probably the easiest ball to slog sometimes.
“So it’s just maybe mixing it up a bit more. Obviously the bouncer plays a part, so it’s just sequencing those balls, working them out.”
Average tenth-wicket partnership conceded in Tests over the past 12 months
19.71 — Australia
16.75 — West Indies
13.76 — England
12.90 — New Zealand
12.57 — South Africa
8.25 — Pakistan
7.33 — Sri Lanka
5.16 — India
2.00 — Bangladesh
AUSTRALIA’S RINGO STARR FINALLY GETS HIS DRUM SOLO
For the past five years, Josh Hazlewood has been the Ringo Starr of Australia’s world-class bowling quartet.
Nathan Lyon is Australia’s greatest off-spinner in history with more than 500 Test wickets to his name, Mitchell Starc is the exhilarating left-armer who once exceeded 160km/h, while Pat Cummins is the respected skipper with the million-dollar smile.
Starc and Cummins recently acquired record-breaking Indian Premier League contracts, while Lyon could finish his career as one of the sport’s most prolific wicket-takers.
Then there’s Hazlewood, who boasts an impressive resume of his own, including two World Cup titles and a T20 World Cup crown in 2021.
However, Hazlewood has often been overshadowed by his superstar teammates. When Australia requires a second spinner in the subcontinent, he’s usually the quick that’s asked to step aside and carry the drinks.
“Someone’s got to bring up the rear, I guess,” Hazlewood laughed after becoming the last member of the quartet to join the 250-wicket club.
Just as Ringo maintained a consistent beat on the skins, Hazlewood has peppered away at a consistent line and length for the best part of a decade.
The Bendemeer Bullet is relentlessly disciplined with the ball, probing at off stump. His bowling isn’t glamorous, and he’ll never produce a yorker or bouncer that rivals Starc, but he’s arguably Australia’s most reliable seamer since Glenn McGrath.
“Obviously very consistent, hitting one spot and a spot that’s not the easiest to score off at times,” West Indies captain Kraigg Brathwaite said of Hazlewood.
“His relentlessness is his strength, and you have to have a solid defence especially, when that ball is hard.”
Hazlewood on FIRE with wild early haul! | 01:36
Unfortunately, injury has plagued Hazlewood over the past 24 months, missing several home Tests and last year’s World Test Championship final due to a recurring side strain.
But despite recent concerns about his future in the Test side, the 33-year-old finally got his chance in the spotlight at Adelaide Oval this week, taking career-best figures of 9-79 against the West Indies.
Hazlewood ripped the heart of the West Indies top order in both innings of the series opener, at one stage boasting figures of 3-0 during the evening session of day two.
The two-paced pitch offered Hazlewood just enough assistance to make him a constant threat with the Kookaburra, while Travis Head’s epic century was the only thing preventing the New South Welshman from accepting player of the match honours.
“I love playing here, pink or red ball, there’s still enough if you hang around that off-stump,” Hazlewood said.
“It’s like a nice thatch grass that a lot of the wobble seams grip, and there’s just enough there all day.”
Hazlewood raced past the 250-wicket milestone in Adelaide, becoming the 11th Australian to achieve the feat, but of those eleven players, only three boast a lower bowling average — Dennis Lillee, McGrath and Cummins.
“I never really look at milestones that often, it’s just about doing my role for the team each time I go and play,” Hazlewood continued.
“Try and keep my best and worst spell really close together, which I hope I can do for the rest of my career, as I’ve hopefully done for the start.
“It’s just putting that ball in the right area, I know it sounds clichéd, but that’s my role for the team – keep it dry, pick up the odd wicket, let the other boys attack.”
This summer, Hazlewood has taken 20 wickets at 14.95, the fifth-lowest bowling average for an Australian in a home Test summer (minimum 20 wickets). He has now taken at least one wicket in 19 consecutive Test innings, highlighting his consistency.
Lowest bowling average for Australian in home Test summer
9.54 — Bert Ironmonger, 1931/32
12.78 — Pat Cummins, 2023/24
13.97 — Mitchell Johnson, 2013/14
14.68 — Bert Ironmonger, 1930/31
14.95 — Josh Hazlewood, 2023/24
* Minimum 20 wickets
“It just shows his worth to the team,” Cummins said of Hazlewood.
“With the new ball he can strike early and have them two or three down early before you know it.
“Right-handers, left-handers, basically all conditions, he finds a way, and as a captain it’s pretty easy to give him the ball and know he’s going to go to work.
“He’s showed his class on two very different wickets, that he’ll find a way to take command of the game.”
PREMIER ‘FILTHY’ DESPITE HEALTHY CROWDS
It was always going to be a tough sell.
Less than 14 months after being thumped by 419 runs, the West Indies returned to Adelaide Oval with an inexperienced squad for a mid-January daytime fixture.
However, much to Adelaide’s credit, a healthy crowd still showed up for the one-sided contest.
More than 67,000 spectators walked through the gates across the three days in the South Australian capital, which comfortably exceeded the 59,125-person tally Perth managed for the Test summer opener against Pakistan.
Even on day three, which was destined to wrap up before lunch, nearly 17,000 fans turned up to show their support — it was even higher than the day one attendance for the Perth Test.
Adelaide has a considerably lower population than Perth, yet the average daily attendance was 51 per cent higher than what the West Australian capital mustered last month.
“It was fantastic,” Australian captain Pat Cummins said of the Adelaide crowd.
“Every year we say this is one of our favourite Test matches because with the crowds it feels like the whole city gets behind it.
“We absolutely love playing here, and I think this week epitomised that – 60,000-odd people for two-and-a-half days on a weekday in a slot where it is not normally played there. It has been really well-supported, pretty awesome.”
Daily average attendance for Tests this summer
41,209 – Melbourne
31,323 – Sydney
22,350 – Adelaide
14,781 – Perth
Regardless, South Australian Premier Peter Malinauskas was not impressed with Cricket Australia’s scheduling, with the Adelaide Test wrapping up before the weekend.
“It was odds-on to not go for a long time, which is why I am a bit filthy on Cricket Australia for starting the Test on Wednesday,” Malinauskas said on FIVEaa on Friday morning.
“What possible justification is there for that?
“There must be some perplexing reason to do with scheduling or something, but I don’t think anything can justify starting a Test match on a Wednesday against a second-rate nation that we’ve played two years in a row.
“We have more people turn up for Test matches on a per capita basis than anybody. We leave Melbourne in the wake.
“We punch above our weight and yet we get treated in the way that we have been.”
However, South Australian cricket fans have plenty to look forward to in the coming couple of years, with Adelaide Oval expected to host mid-December Tests against India and England in 2024/25 and 2025/26 respectively.
“Later in December generally brings better weather on average than early December, which is better if it’s a day-night fixture,” Malinauskas told ABC radio on Wednesday.
“I support the concept of Christmas Tests. It’s got to be against a premium side, rather than being relegated to the second team that comes.
“I think that would represent a good recognition from Cricket Australia that this is a state that turns up, is loyal to the sport and wants to grow Test cricket.”
UNKNOWN DEBUTANTS STEAL THE LIMELIGHT
Aamir Jamal and Shamar Joseph, we salute you.
The 2023/24 Test summer threatened to be a dull, one-sided affair, with Pakistan and the West Indies flying across inexperienced squads to take on the world’s No. 1 Test side.
The batting from both nations has been woeful, with no touring player reaching triple figures across four Tests — but two cricketers have stepped up with the ball.
Jamal and Joseph have stolen the limelight from Australia this summer, becoming immediate fan favourites for their all-round heroics. Both players have heartwarming backstories, but it’s their gutsy, lion-hearted performances on the field that won over the Australian public.
Joseph bowing towards the Adelaide Oval’s Western Stand after securing his maiden five-wicket haul on Thursday was perhaps the defining moment of the summer.
The Australians look destined to secure a 5-0 summer whitewash, but the emergence of Jamal and Joseph as future cricket superstars has given the global cricket community something to celebrate.
‘HAVEN’T QUITE GOT IT PERFECT’: ADELAIDE’S SHORTEST TEST
This week’s contest was the shortest Test match in Adelaide Oval’s history, and the pitch was partly to blame.
There were signs of variable bounce early in the match, with some deliveries thudding into the gloves while others failed to reach the wicketkeeper.
Travis Head’s century proved it wasn’t a bowler’s paradise, while the quality of the batting should also be questioned, but the pitch undeniably created headaches for both sides.
Speaking to Fox Cricket on Friday morning, Adelaide Oval curator Damian Hough declared he wasn’t happy with some aspects of the pitch, questioning whether using Legend Couch grass was the right call moving forward.
“You’re always tweaking something. You’re always trying to find improvement, and you’re trying to grow and learn and get better. Sometimes they work and sometimes they don’t,” Hough explained.
“There’s certain parts with the consistency and the ball dying through to the keeper early that we’re not as happy with.
“I’ll put my hand up and say we probably haven’t quite got it perfect.
“We’ve just to keep learning and get better.”
Hough, who has been Adelaide Oval’s head curator since 2010, was hired by the ICC to oversee the preparation of the drop-in pitches that will be used at New York’s Eisenhower Park for the upcoming Men’s T20 World Cup.
Shortest Test matches at Adelaide Oval (balls bowled)
1112 – 2023/24 vs WI
1246 – 2020/21 vs IND
1508 – 2015/16 vs NZ
1582 – 1992/93 vs WI
1590 – 1951/52 vs WI
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