Despite the eventual 10wicket margin of the defeat, there was much to be encouraged by from the West Indies performances during the recently concluded Adelaide first Test against their Aussie hosts. Particularly against the reality backdrop of no less than three West Indian players having made their debuts during the Tests. The West Indies’ batting failures which produced paltry scores of 188 in the first innings and 120 in the second must also be viewed in the context that while the occupants of their batting order from positions two to five had played a sum total of eleven Tests between them they were up against a four-man Australian bowling attack with well over 1300 collectively captured wickets..
Here then are the top five first-Test takeaways.
1. Does One Shamar Make An Australian Summer?
As the old saying goes, one swallow does not a summer make, and as such Shamar Joseph’s first Test performances, with ball and bat, as outstanding as they were, should now not be seen as anything more than just that, a very encouraging Test debut. Joseph’s willingness to run in at pace and put the ball consistently in the right areas, however, proved to be a handful for all of the Aussie batsmen, from his initial prized scalp of Steve Smith off his very first ball bowled in Tests, through the last of his five eventual victims.
Joseph should rightfully have been given the new ball in both innings ahead of the now obviously declining Kemar Roach. That judgment error by West Indies captain Kraigg Brathwaite will, however. most likely be immediately corrected during the forthcoming second Test. Further ahead, with Jayden Seales, hopefully, fully recovered by then from his most recent injury the West Indies can look forward to fielding a very formidable opening bowling attack consisting of himself plus the two Josephs, Alzarri, and Shamar, in future series commencing with this summer’s forthcoming three Tests tour to England.
2. Twilight Time For Kemar Roach?
Despite having now taken 267 wickets in Tests for the West Indies during his fifteen-year career, Kemar Roach has never been particularly successful either in or against Australia. Only 31 of Roach’s 267 scalps to date have been those of Aussie batsmen, and illuminatingly they have been captured at an average of 41.70 each, much higher than his overall standard of 27.77. His 8 Tests played to date on Aussie soil have only produced 10 wickets taken at a whopping and wholly unflattering average of 77.90!
Now rapidly approaching his thirty-sixth birthday, to be celebrated this coming June 30, Roach’s productivity has been declining noticeably of late. His last ten Tests have only produced 29 wickets and included two five-wicket hauls. Of even greater cause for alarm and concern has been the inescapable reality that Roach’s pace has also been declining steeply. During the recently concluded Aussie first Test, his average delivery speed was in the mid-120s. Very rarely did he even touch 130. At such speeds, he now will not be posing too many problems for opposing batsmen.
How Roach finishes the current Test series will be interesting to see. Whether the West Indies Selection Panel, chaired as it is by his Barbadian compatriot the Rt. Honourable Desmond Haynes, maintains its faith in him sufficiently to have him included in the squad to England this coming summer will be even more interesting to behold. Roach’s current form, declining pace, and productivity would suggest that this Aussie series should be his very last. But with West Indies cricket, what seems most obvious to most is very often ignored by those charged with making the actual decisions!
3. Justin Greaves An All-Rounder In The Making?
With bat in hand and playing in his debut match Justin Greaves produced scores of 5 and 24 during the Adelaide Australia – West Indies first Test. Hardly anything of note for anyone to become overly excited about. With his medium-paced bowling, however, Greaves took 2/36-15 overs in Australia’s first innings, figures which suggest that in him the West Indies may now have found an all-rounder fully capable of challenging Jason Holder for the number six spot in the Test order. What was most exciting about Greaves’ bowling was his pace. He was comfortably clocking his deliveries in the mid-130s with many of the sufficiently knowledgeable Aussie Commentators suggesting that with proper guidance he could very easily become even quicker.
That should come as music to the ears of many West Indies cricket fans as well as the Test selectors. One of the knocks against Holder has always been his tendency to bowl in the late 120s. rarely if ever exceeding 130kph.Holder’s lack of speed has, however, more often than not been compensated for by his ability to generate movement both through the air and off the pitch. Qualities that Greaves will have to acquire if he harbors hopes of permanently displacing Holder in the West Indies Test lineup. As a batsman Holder also boasts an aggregate of 2797 Test runs, scored from 113 innings at an average of 29.44, including three centuries, one of which was a double as well as no less than twelve half-centuries. Statistics that Greaves will be challenged to exceed to maintain his place on the playing XI. Still, he has already emerged as one of the finds of the Aussie Series and one whose immediate future appears to be highly encouraging!
4. Sage Shot Selection Urgently Required.
Disadvantaged as they were from the beginning by the huge difference between their abject lack of Test match experience in comparison to that of their Aussie bowing opponents, the West Indies middlle-order batters did themselves further injustice with poor shot selections that resulted in their inevitable demise. Alick Athanze and wicket-keeper Joshua DaSilave were arguably the two who were most culpable of such indiscretions.
Unlucky to be clean bowled for 13 in the first innings leaving alone a delivery the length and height of which he’d misjudged, Atahanze was wholly undeserving of any such compassionate understanding in the second. His attempted hook off of Josh Hazelwood after facing just eleven balls was ill-advised, resulting as it did in a feathered touch off the glove for him to be caught behind without scoring.
While youth and inexperience could be offered for Athanze’s misjudgments, no such luxuries should be extended to the far more experienced Joshua DaSilva whose inclination to be a “happy hooker” proved to be his downfall, not once but twice. As one of only four players in the West Indies XI, with over twenty Tests under his belt, skipper Kraigg Brathwaite, seasoned seamer Kemar Roach, and vice-captain Alzarri Joseph being the other three, DaSilva was expected to be one of the team’s most reliable batters. Instead, his irresistible urge to hook proved to be his downfall. As bad as it was his first innings dismissal, caught at midwicket,, paled in comparison for stupidity to his second outing attempt to pull an over-his-head Mitchel Starc short-pitched delivery that was pitched on an off-stump line to the backward square boundary. Predictably his effort only got as far as the safe hands of Josh Hazelwood on the backward square boundary. Da Silva gone for 18, seventh out in a ma6tch losing West Indies total of 120!
Now that the Aussie pacers have become fully aware of DaSilva’s hooking weakness he can expect to be constantly peppered with short-pitch offerings during the forthcoming Melbourne second Test. His best advice would be to shelve the shot not only for the remainder of this series but indeed for the future duration of his entire Test career!
5. Second Test Selections: Three Changes Recommended Only One Most Likely!
As underwhelming as they turned out to be the West Indies’ first Test performances with both bat and ball have prompted some of the Australian commentators to suggest that there should be as many as three changes to the team for the forthcoming second-match encounter in Brisbane. Kaveem Hodge, Gudakesh Motie, and Kemar Roach are the three who have been identified as most worthy of exclusion. To be replaced by Zachary McCaskie, Kevin Sinclair, and Akeem Jordan. As deserving as they may be such widespread changes are unlikely to occur. The Selectors’ most likely decision will be to replace Motie with Sinclair as a right-hand off-spinning option, given the presence of at least six left-handers in the Aussie’s batting lineup.
This then would be the five most pertinent takeaways from the Australia-West Indies first Test. Undoubtedly, the forthcoming second Test could very likely produce just as many!