West Indies scripted history by beating Australia in the second Test match at Brisbane's Gabba on Sunday. Shamar Joseph's seven wickets on Day 4 gave the travelling side a thrilling eight-run win and ended their winless run in Australia after 27 years.
However, it was hard to miss Steve Smith's admirable innings which almost dragged the host over the finish line. Australia's new opener scored an unbeaten 91 off 146 balls but eventually ran out of partners after Shamar's heroics.
This was Smith's best innings since he took the opener's role from retired David Warner. Smith scored 12 and 12* in the Adelaide Test and fell on six runs in the first innings of the Gabba match. But the star batter, who is closing on a historic 10,000 Test runs, played a sensational knock to take the game to the wire.
After the defeat, losing captain Pat Cummins revealed that his team was not surprised by Smith's knock saying it was expected from the veteran. Cummins also showered praise on Shamar and his match-winning performance.
"Don't think we are surprised with Smith's innings," Cummins said after the match. "We have seen it for 15 years from Smithy. He was fantastic. He almost dragged us over the line single-handedly at the end. There is disappointment after a loss [but] that was a fantastic Test match and a fantastic series. In particular, Shamar, the way he bowled today. He was right up for it and unfortunately, we were not good enough."
Australia Playing XI: Usman Khawaja, Steven Smith, Marnus Labuschagne, Cameron Green, Travis Head, Mitchell Marsh, Alex Carey(wk), Mitchell Starc, Pat Cummins (c), Nathan Lyon, Josh Hazlewood
West Indies Playing XI: Kraigg Brathwaite (c), Tagenarine Chanderpaul, Kirk McKenzie, Alick Athanaze, Kavem Hodge, Justin Greaves, Joshua Da Silva (wk), Kevin Sinclair, Alzarri Joseph, Kemar Roach, Shamar Joseph
