Head’s ton puts Australia in the lead
-after dream debut by Joseph
(ESPN) At press time Australia were 254 for 7, a lead of 66 over the West Indies with Travis Head unbeaten on 118 and captain Pat Cummins on 10.
Guyana’s Shamar Joseph in a spectacular debut has been the pick of the bowlers so far taking four wickets for 86 off of 19 overs including Steve Smith on his first ball in Test cricket and Marnus Labuschagne
West Indies enjoyed an excellent morning on the second day in Adelaide. Joseph continued his spectacular Test debut and Justin Greaves claimed his own maiden international wicket, with Australia needing Head to build on his foundation.
Joseph added to his first-day success early on the second when he had Cameron Green caught behind, then Greaves broke a threatening stand between Head and Usman Khawaja when the latter was taken at slip.
On a surface that was proving trickier to bat that expected, Mitchell Marsh was given a working over around off stump before being superbly caught by Greaves, standing very close at third slip and wearing a helmet.
Hometown stars Head and Alex Carey carried Australia to lunch with the onus on them to secure Australia a lead before exposing the bowlers.
The early signs had been that it could be Green’s day, as he resumes his Test career at No. 4, but after a brace of early boundaries off Shamar Joseph he nicked a goodlength delivery that left him a fraction to send the bowler in another sprint celebration across the Adelaide Oval outfield the morning after he became a story around the world.
Shamar and Alzarri Joseph maintained early pressure on Khawaja and Head, the former happy to bide his time while the latter was keen to be aggressive. West Indies quickly went to a short-ball plan against Head although the surface did not quite have the pace in it to be hugely problematic.
Head went past 3000 Test runs with a lofted drive over the covers as the partnership started to dominate. Khawaja was shaping up well, putting a couple of pulls away strongly through midwicket, while Head also deposited Greaves into the stands over square leg.
But just as concerns were growing as to whether West Indies could maintain the pressure, the medium pace of Greaves lured Khawaja into driving a wide delivery and the edge was well held at second slip.
Marsh struggled early in his innings, multiple times edging short of the cordon, and had 1 off 22 balls before he laced a cover drive off Shamar Joseph. However, it wasn’t a sign of a change in fortune. After another edge fell short of third slip, Greaves moved up even closer, and then brilliantly held the opportunity off Kemar Roach.