Shamar Joseph picked up 7/68 in the second innings of the second Test at the Gabba to help West Indies beat Australia by 8 runs and level the series 1-1. Australia won the first Test at Adelaide by 10 wickets.
Joseph picked 1/56 in the first innings with Australia scoring 289. With a target of 216 to defend in the second innings, Joseph tormented the Aussie batters and picked up his career-best figures in just his second Test match. He picked up 13 wickets in the series to end up as the Player of the Match and the series as the Windies won their first Test in Australia since 1997.
Joseph was hit on his right toe by a yorker from Mitchell Starc on day 3. He braved the injury and came back to bowl on day four which was absolutely lethal. He castled Josh Hazlewood as he was the last wicket to fall in the second innings with Australia finishing on 207 in their second innings.
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Former West Indies pace legend, Curtly Ambrose who picked 405 Test wickets in 98 Test matches hailed Joseph for his performance and likened him to another former Windies pacer Malcolm Marshall. Marshall, one of the all-time great pacers, claimed 376 wickets in 81 Test matches while picking 157 wickets in 136 ODIs.
“He is a skiddy customer, more in the mould of Malcolm Marshall. So, I hope that he remains focused, humble and continues to learn his craft and tries to learn and improve every single day,” said Ambrose, as quoted by Daily Star.
“I would like to see Shamar Joseph play a lot of red-ball cricket. He has just started his career, so he needs to learn and understand what it takes to become a world-class fast bowler, and then you can always branch out to ODIs or T20 cricket,” he added.
The Windies pace legend further said that his team is not playing consistent Test cricket in recent times while adding that the Gabba win will boost the confidence of this young and inexperienced team.
“We sent a team where we have seven or eight [seven] young players who never played Test match cricket. To me, that was significant and that should do their confidence a world of good, and let’s hope they can build on this going forward. The only downside for West Indies is we are not playing enough Test cricket,” said Ambrose.
The Crowd Kept Us Pushing: Shamar Joseph
Joseph’s celebration after he took the final Australian wicket to fall was a must-watch. He ran across the Gabba outfield in joy as his West Indian teammates could not catch a hold of him. It was almost a single-handed effort from the young pacer that helped his side make history at the Gabba and breach the so-called Australian fortress. Australia needed 156 runs to get in the final day with 8 wickets in hand. They lost the game from that position.
“It is actually amazing for me, you know, I just want to turn this way to give a shout out to my teammates and the management staff for great words of encouragement. Having a bruised toe to bowl with, but I just go through the phase and pain, knowing that I need to do this for my team and you know for everyone in my country and the Caribbean. Came down to the crowd, to keep pushing us and actually believing us that we can bring the series to 1-1” said Joseph in the post-match presentation.
