It had been almost 27 years since the West Indies cricket team had beaten Australia in a Test Match on home soil, but yesterday against all the odds - they did it. Winning by just 8 runs on Day 4. As someone who grew up and fell in love with cricket in the 80s when the West Indies was the team to beat, I've sadly watched them fall into serious decline in recent decades. So as a cricket fan I am kind of happy to see them upset a powerhouse cricketing nation. Just a shame that it had to be us...
There are a couple of big stories to come out of the game and while cricket fans will probably hear all about the first one, the second one would have been the big story if the result had been different. Just 8 runs separated the teams and that is a tiny margin for Test Cricket.
Shamar Joseph is the big story, getting Man of the Match along with Player of the Series. This 24 year old fast bowler from West Indies has come from obscurity to play his first 2 Test Matches and his 7 wicket haul in the Final Innings of this game was not only remarkable, but clearly a match winning effort. Well done young man, I hope you can go on to achieve great things.
The other story that isn't getting much coverage was the effort of Steve Smith. A taken-for-granted champion #3 and #4 batsman who put his hand up to take on the challenge of Opening for Australia this series amidst the usual cacophony of criticism and controversy, he carried his bat through the entire Final Innings (from first ball to last) and almost got the win for Australia except he ran out of batting partners. He finished on 91 Not Out, but if he had a batting partner stay with him he probably would have won the game AND scored a century in that final innings. Then HE would have been the hero of the day. Not to be, but hopefully the real cricket fans will take note and give him some credit.
All up it was another great finish to a Test Match and we've had a couple this Summer. The cricket season here is winding up now with the Big Bash over and the Tests are done too. We have a few T20s and One-Dayers against the West Indies over coming weeks but that's pretty much it.
