BRISBANE (Australia): Shamar Joseph’s seven-wicket haul helped West Indies to make history at the Gabba as they defeated Australia by 8 runs in the second Test match on Sunday in Brisbane.
The Gabba fortress has been breached again as the Caribbeans clinched their first Test win on Australian soil after 27 years.
Even though Steven Smith stayed unbeaten in the second inning to score 91 runs off 146 balls, but his effort went in vain as the Aussies failed to reach the 216-run target.
The fourth day of the second Test match started with Smith and Cameron Green opening for the Aussies, as the hosts stood at 60/2. However, the batters could not make a solid partnership in front of the Caribbean bowling attack.
Joseph made the first breakthrough of the day as he dismissed Green for 42 runs in the 31st over. In the same over, he removed star Aussie batter Travis Head for a duck to take an early advantage.
As the session went on Joseph displayed a lion-hearted performance and removed the Australian top order by dismissing Mitchell Marsh (10 runs from 12 balls), Alex Carey (2 runs from 5 balls), Mitchell Starc (21 runs from 14 balls), and Pat Cummins (2 runs from 8 balls) within 43rd over.
Alzarri Joseph picked his first wicket of the day after removing Nathan Lyon (9 runs from 20 balls) in the 48th over. The West Indies bowling attack dominated the first session from the very first and in the last the 24-year-old picked his seventh wicket by dismissing Josh Hazlewood in the 51st over.
Nobody believed that Joseph would make such a comeback after suffering an injury on his toe. However, He ended the second inning with fiery figures of 7/68 and was also named the ‘Player of the Match’.
Earlier in the Test match, the visitors started the third session of Day 3 at 183 after a loss of six wickets. The Caribbeans were able to play only 11.4 overs in the last session as they bundled out for 193 runs. Kirk McKenzie remained the top scorer of the Windies in the second inning with 41 runs off 50 balls.
For the hosts, the pick of the bowlers were Hazelwood and Lyon who snapped three wickets each in their respective spells. One wicket each was grabbed by Mitchell Starc and Green.
While chasing 216 runs, openers Steve Smith and Usman Khawaja came to open for the Aussies. The hosts scored 24 runs before Khawaja was dismissed by Alzarri Joseph down the leg side. In the 11th over, Justin Greaves cleared up Marnus Labuschagne, whose edge was outstandingly caught by Kevin Sinclair in the slips.
Brief Score: Australia 289-9 d & 207 (Steven Smith 91*, Cameron Green 42, Shamar Joseph 7-98) vs West Indies 311 & 193 (Kirk McKenzie 41, Alick Athanaze 35, Josh Hazelwood 3-23). (ANI)