After being reduced to 64 for 5, the visitors stood up to Australia’s gun attack under lights
Andrew McGlashan25-Jan-20241:59
‘WI have shown that they are here for a fight’
When Justin Greaves was caught low down at slip from what became the final ball of the first session at the Gabba, West Indies were 64 for 5. Few would have given them much of a chance of still only being five wickets down two hours later as the floodlights started to take full hold across the ground, and even fewer of them still batting at the close.But over the next few hours, Kavem Hodge and Joshua Da Silva pulled West Indies back from the brink with the first full wicketless session for either of the visitors this summer in a Test season that has been dominated by the ball. It also became the longest partnership of the season in terms of balls faced, going past Steven Smith and Mitchell Marsh at Melbourne, and ended as the highest stand against Australia in a day-night Test.To win a Test on this tour would rank among the greatest upsets of all time. Who knows how the next four days could play out but Australia remain favourites. The more realistic scenario for West Indies was that the tour needed to be about making the home side work as hard as they could, perhaps giving them a scare along the way and for the inexperienced players to learn in the heat of the battle.Related
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“Nobody would have expected, for sure, at [64] for 5 when I came in that we’d be 266, so that’s 200-plus runs for three wickets, so we are pretty happy,” Da Silva said. “We just wanted to show that we can fight, that we can put a foot forward. At least we can show people we are here to fight, here to play cricket…it’s about showing people, West Indies, we’re still here and we deserve to be here.”They pressured Australia in Adelaide, having them six down and still behind in the first innings before Travis Head turned the game. Shamar Joseph’s debut was the story of the summer. But their batting challenges were exposed by Josh Hazlewood and the Test barely made the third day.Kirk McKenzie showed promise with a first-innings fifty and some princely off-side drives, and there was Joseph belying his position at No.11, but there was precious little else to suggest the batting could cope. The challenge in Brisbane was to show they could learn and at least stand up to Australia’s attack.”Too much information could be confusing, but we had some discussions,” captain Kraigg Brathwaite said ahead of the Test about how they were working with the inexperienced batters. “The main thing is that they knew what they did to get here and it’s [about] not changing from that. The bowlers in Test cricket are better than first-class bowlers, but it’s giving them the confidence to know they can do it.”It’s [about] just believing. [They] got the feeling of being out there and playing against one of the best bowling attacks in the world. Most of the guys looked comfortable at some periods, it didn’t materialise into big runs which we want, and that’s obviously the challenge when you bat longer, you go through a lot of periods where you’ve got to fight. At least it shows they can get the job done and now it’s doing it for long periods.”ESPNcricinfo LtdThe early signs in Brisbane were not promising. Brathwaite, who needed to lead from the front, followed a lean first Test with a loose waft at Hazlewood, McKenzie gave away an encouraging start with a slash to slip, Tagenarine Chanderpaul nicked into the cordon and Alick Athanaze edged a wild drive to give Mitchell Starc his 350th wicket.But after the dinner break, Hodge and Da Silva, the latter one of the senior members of the squad, emerged with good intent, including consecutive boundaries by Da Silva off Pat Cummins and Hodge pulling Starc for six. They were aided by a pink ball that went soft quickly – Cummins was seen talking to the umpires as soon as the first session – but regardless of the helping hand that provided it remained an impressive effort to repel one of the great attacks, making them work as hard as they had all season for a breakthrough. Cummins cycled through eight bowlers during the day.As tea approached, Hodge drove both Starc and Cummins through the covers. Hodge, who spent time at the Darren Lehmann Academy in Adelaide as a 17-year-old, in the same cohort as Joe Root, was first to his fifty when he squeezed an edge through gully. Da Silva’s tuck past short leg to reach his also brought up the century stand.It was an important contribution from Da Silva who, as someone with previous experience in Australia and 25 Tests overall, needed to provide more than he did in Adelaide when he twice gift-wrapped his wicket to Australia with top-edged pulls. He was given plenty of short stuff again this time, but had learnt from his mistakes.”I knew after they bumped me out at Adelaide they would come at me a lot, so put on a chest pad this time and decided to duck from a few and ride a few,” he said. “It wasn’t going well so needed to change and thankfully it worked a little bit.”Eventually it was Nathan Lyon who broke through, trapping Da Silva lbw from around the wicket. Then late in the day, Hodge was undone by the second new ball when Starc found his outside edge from the 194th ball he faced. Both walked off to warm applause from a Gabba crowd of more than 23,000. Adelaide was left with no cricket at the weekend; weather permitting there should be plenty here.They were not quite done for the day, either, with Alzarri Joseph launching Cummins over mid-off, amid a flurry of boundaries, and debutant Kevin Sinclair holding the pose on an exquisite straight drive against Starc. Joseph edged to slip in the final over and was given a little send-off by Hazlewood, itself a sign that Australia hadn’t had it their own way.West Indies may yet make 300, and if they bowl as well as Adelaide it really could be a contest, but regardless of how the rest of the match plays out this was a day of progress for them. And that, in itself, was a bit of a victory.
