It was a day in West Indies cricket that many former, current and future players are not going to forget anytime soon. A day when the World Test Champions and the No.1 team Australia were trying to somehow get over the line riding on the back of Steve Smith, who finally came to life as a Test opener. A game which the West Indies could and should have won earlier but still managed to get over the line despite Australia throwing punches at them because the visitors were the better team throughout the four days and it helped them get their first win in a Test in Australia in 27 years.
Shamar Joseph was the player of the match and the series for the West Indies and deserved every bit of appreciation for a 7-wicket haul with a bruised toe as he was unsure if he was coming to the ground on Sunday or not. He did and the rest is history. It was also a great series for captain Kraigg Brathwaite and the team management who believed in such an inexperienced squad and their decision paid off.
However, Brathwaite was not going to calm down during the post-match presentation and addressed the criticism head-on. Brathwaite fired shots at former Australian cricketer Rodney Hogg, who apparently called the West Indies side pathetic before the tour began.
“I must say we had two words that inspired us in this test match. Mr Rodney Hogg said we were ‘pathetic’ and ‘hopeless’, so that source was our inspiration. We wanted to show the world we’re not pathetic,” Brathwaite said when asked about the inspiration for the performance.
“And I must ask him: Are these muscles big enough for him? (shows his biceps)."
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Eventually, it was the team effort that helped West Indies get through as the cameos of 40-50 runs in both innings proved to be gold dust for the visitors and Australia might be thinking about that declaration 22 runs before despite having a wicket in hand and skipper Pat Cummins unbeaten on 64.
