Defeating Australia in Australia requires a lot of courage and the same was shown by the Kraigg Braithewaite-led West Indies during the second Test match in Brisbane.
West Indies pacer Shamar Joseph had a dream debut series as he reignited the emotion for playing cricket for the national side.
Shamar Joseph picked up a total of nine wickets in the day-night Test and anchored West Indies’ eight-run win.
Also, the West Indies batsmen showed a lot of character in the first and second innings despite being put under the pump by the Australian pace attack. West Indies were able to level the two-match Test series by 1-1 and also gave themselves a booster for the coming years.
However, in the last few years, there has been a lot of downfall in West Indies cricket. The team which had ruled world cricket in the 70s and 80s with their deadly batting and pace attack, failed to qualify for the ODI World Cup 2023. The major reason behind the downfall was the non-interest of the national players in representing their national side playing in T20 leagues for the sake of more money.
However, Shamar Joseph has once again ignited the passion and emotion for the West Indies cricketers to represent their side. Former Australian captain Steve Waugh was in awe of Shamar Joseph’s performance in the second Test match against Australia. Waugh shared an appreciation post for Shamar and stated that the Cinderella stories are very rare in cricket. However, according to him the second AUS vs WI Test was an example of such a story. Waugh further added that Shamar Joseph’s performance has once again reignited the passion to play cricket in the Caribbean.
Steve Waugh shares appreciation post for Shamar Joseph
His caption read, “There’s nothing like test cricket and this man may be the Saviour in the purest form of the game. Cinderella stories are rare in sport but this was truly epic from a young man who has single handedly reignited the passion of cricket followers in the Caribbean and all over the world. Many congratulations.”
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Bowling in the second innings of the Brisbane Test was not easy for Shamar Joseph. Shamar was hit on his toes by a toe-crushing yorker by Mitchell Starc. Shamar was retired hurt and also could not walk down back to the dressing room. However, coming out from that blow and ripping through the Australian batting order was a commendable job. Joseph picked up a seven-fer in the second innings and dismissed big names such as Usman Khawaja, Travis Head, and Marnus Labuschagne cheaply.
This was the fourth time West Indies defeated Australia at The Gabba. The loss against West Indies was a big setback for the Aussies as they were in no condition to lose the match towards the end of Day 3. The World Test Champions have a lot to think about and discuss after the retirement of David Warner.