It was an enthralling day of Test cricket at Gabba on Friday, January 26 on Australia Day as 12 wickets fell with the visitors West Indies ahead by 35 runs as the pendulum swung throughout the day from one side to another and ended up in the visitors' favour, only slightly. It was a tremendous comeback from Australia as they fought back from 54/5 to get to 289/9 with Usman Khawaja, Alex Carey and Pat Cummins playing starring roles.
West Indies bowlers were all over the Australian bowlers in the first session before the World Test Champions fought back riding on a counter-attacking knock by Carey, who smashed a 49-ball 65 as he stitched a 96-run stand with Khawaja. The 37-year-old held one end and was the second last wicket to fall before captain Cummins too played an attacking brand of cricket.
Khawaja ended up being the highest scorer of the innings for his side and could have gone even bigger before the debutant Kevin Sinclair, who pushed West Indies' score beyond 300, dismissed the left-hander. Australia were still 69 runs behind and Sinclair got Khawaja to commit to the off-stump and induced an edge as Alick Athanaze took an easy catch in the slips.
It was his first wicket in Test cricket and Sinclair, obviously couldn't hold his excitement and got to show off his usual celebrations as he went on a double-cartwheel role to the surprise of the commentators and the spectators alike. Sinclair's celebration went viral during the Caribbean Premier League and since then it has become a thing and those who remembered were waiting for the 24-year-old to take a wicket and go on a roll, which he did eventually.
Watch the video:
Cummins remained unbeaten on 64 off 73 before announcing a surprising declaration to give a chance to his bowlers get a wicket under the lights in the remaining 7-8 overs and the Australian captain's trick worked. Yes, Australia were still 22 runs behind but Josh Hazlewood prized out Tagenarine Chaderpaul's wicket in the dying stages of the second day to get a psychological win on the day.
