Dream debut for Shamar Joseph as Aussie bowlers dominate on day one
Newcomer Shamar Joseph may be forgiven for thinking that the sport’s longest format is easy after he propped up West Indies with bat and ball against hosts and world champions Australia in the first Test on Wednesday.
The 24-year-old was one of only two batsmen that passed 20 for the Caribbean side after they were put in to bat on a hard, true Adelaide Oval pitch and were bowled out for 188 inside the first half-hour after tea on the first day of the match.
He then followed up with the prized scalps of Steve Smith for 12 and Marnus Labuschagne for 10 to end the day with two for 18 from his six overs, but the Australians reached 59 for two at the close with left-handed opener Usman Khawaja not out on 30 and Cameron Green not out on six to hold the edge.
Joseph from the remote village of Baracara in Guyana that is only accessible by boat was one of three players that West Indies handed a maiden Test cap for the match, but he was the only one of them that captured the imagination on a topsy-turvy day.
He made 36, batting at 11, to extend the innings of the Caribbean side in a 55-run, lastwicket stand with fellow pacer Kemar Roach, after left-hander Kirk McKenzie hit a top score of an even 50 in defiance of the Australia fast-bowling duo of captain Pat Cummins and Josh Hazlewood carving up the batting.
After Roach and vice-captain Alzarri Joseph were ineffective in their opening spells with the new ball, newcomer Joseph got the breakthrough for West Indies with his first ball in Tests.
He rendered mute the experiment of Steve Smith opening the batting for Australia as replacement for the retired David Warner when he had the former Australia captain caught by Justin Greaves, one of the other newcomers, low at third slip.
“Getting Steve Smith, I’ll remember this for the rest of my life,” newcomer Joseph told reporters after the day’s play ended. “I’ll take a picture and post it up in my house.
“If I could have run (into the stands), I would have. It was really a joy for me.”
Joseph followed up with the scalp of Labuschagne caught at deep fine leg from a miscued hook in his fourth over and had the Australians wobbling on 45 for two before Khawaja and Green batted through a little more than half-hour to the close to settle the nerves of the home team.
Conversely, the other Joseph, unrelated vice-captain Alzarri was left fuming in his first over when wicketkeeper Joshua Da Silva, diving to his left, dropped Khawaja in the second over of the Australian reply when the batsman, on three, edged a loose drive.
The tour de force of newcomer Joseph was the only bright spark on an otherwise bleak day for West Indies after they endured another batting capitulation that leaves them under pressure to survive the remaining four days of the contest.
They sunk to 64 for three at lunch after Cummins grabbed the wickets of the visitors’ openers, left-hander Tagenarine Chanderpaul for six and their captain Kraigg Brathwaite for 13 in his opening burst, and Hazlewood added the scalp of Alick Athanaze for the same score in a second spell.
Chanderpaul resisted for almost 45 minutes before he was caught at gully, slicing a loose drive and Green used all his 6ft, 6in height to haul in the catch, and Brathwaite was bowled on the stroke of the first hour when he played forward to a delivery that angled in before moving away late.
With lunch around the corner, Athanaze was bowled when he became the 250th Test scalp for Hazlewood, offering no shot, meaning the four main bowlers in Australia’s attack that also
includes left-arm pacer Mitchell Starc and off-spinner Nathan Lyon – have all reached that milestone.
West Indies were wobbling on 52 for three, and Kavem Hodge, Athanaze’s fellow Dominican and the other newcomer, defied the Australian attack for about an hour either side of the interval to make 12, but three wickets – all to Hazlewood – fell for 10 in the span of 26 balls to jolt the Caribbean side.
Hodge was caught in the gully, and McKenzie was caught behind in the over after he reached his 50 with a single off Lyon in the first hour after lunch before Greaves was caught in the covers for five, and West Indies were reeling on 108 for six.
Da Silva promised much with the bat after he scored a hundred in the warm-up match before the Test against the Cricket Australia
XI, but he delivered little and was caught at deep square leg for six from a miscued pull off Cummins and sparked another slide.
Seven balls later, Gudakesh Motie was caught at backward point off Starc for one, and two balls later, Alzarri Joseph was caught at second slip off Cummins for 14, and West Indies were almost down and out on 133 for nine.
Newcomer Joseph came to crease and showed no fear to reach his highest first-class score, and he got solid support from Roach to carry the visitors to 177 for nine at tea before he was trapped lbw to Lyon in the fourth over after the break.
Cummins was the pick of his side’s bowlers, taking four for 41 from 17 overs, and Hazlewood finished with four for 44 from 15 overs.