Australia won the 1st test match against the visitors at Adelaide. The 1st test between Australia vs West Indies produced results on 3rd day which means the home side out classed West Indies in all departments. With this win Australia’s roller-coaster ride continues as they did not lose a match since 50-over world cup 2023 knockout round, winning the world cup after that they played 3-match test series with Pakistan which they clean sweep by winning all matches and now leading the 2-match test series against West Indies so Australia’s performance has been magnificent throughout this course of time.
Highlights of the Match:
Australia won the toss and elected to field first which turned out to be a very effective decision by the skipper Pat Cummins as West Indies throughout their first innings were very shaky with the bat. Stand out performance with the bat came from only Kirk Mckenzie who made 50 runs other than him no one could impress with the bat.
It was a great bowling performance by Australian bowlers in the first innings. The stand out bowlers were Josh Hazlewood and captain Cummins who took 4 wickets each.
West Indies only managed to score 188 runs in their 1st Innings.
Australia in reply did not have a solid start as Usman Khawaja played magnificently well for his 45 run but got out but Steve Smith who has been promoted as a new opener for Australia in test format after Warner’s retirement failed to impress as he got out after scoring 12 runs. But impressive performance came with 50-over world cup 2023 final Centurion Travis Head who went on to make hundred runs. He made 119 runs in the first innings and was a stand out performer for Australia.
For West Indies Shamar Joseph was pick of the bowlers as he picked up 5 wickets on his test debut so a great performance by him. Australia managed to score 283 runs in their first innings taking 95 runs lead.
West Indies in their 2nd innings performed even more worse then their 1st Innings as no batter could manage to stay on pitch for a long time. Top scorers in their second innings were Kirk Mckenzie and Justin Greaves as their score was 26 and 24 respectively.
Josh Hazelwood was simply great with the ball in the second innings too as he managed to pick up 5 wickets by giving 35 runs. West Indies 2nd innings score was just 120 runs giving Australia Target of just 26 runs to win the match.
Australia chased 26 runs in 6.4 overs on 3rd day, winning the match comprehensively with 10 wickets. Australia with this win lead the 2-match series with 1-0.
Man of the Match:
For his magnificent hundred in the 1st Innings Travis Head was awarded with the Man of the Match award.
Schedule of 2nd Test Match:
2nd Test Match – Australia vs West Indies – on January, 25th 2024 at Brisbane