After finishing their first innings with 311, the West Indies broke down the Australian batting order and reduced it to 54/5 in the first 12 overs. The West Indies showed a brilliant comeback after facing early heat from the Australian bowlers, and it was their middle and lower order that took them to a fighting score in the first innings.
West Indies bowlers Kemar Roach and Alzarri Joseph put early pressure on the Australian batting line-up and removed big names like Travis Head, Steve Smith and Marnus Labuschagne cheaply in the dressing room. After losing the first five wickets, the hosts were on the verge of losing another wicket, when in the first ball of the 15th over, an incoming delivery from Shamar Joseph hit the balls off the stumps but did not come. out of the slot.
Shamar Joseph was able to return the ball to Australian batter Alex Carey, through which he was completely beaten. Carey attempted to play the ball towards offside, however, he created a gap between the pad and the bat, through which the ball passed cutting the handles of the stumps. However, at first it did not appear that there was contact with the ball and the stumps, however, through the snickometer it was confirmed that there was contact. Notably, the bail even spun, but it came loose and the incident surprised many.
Watch: West Indies miss out on well-deserved wicket as bails fail against Alex Carey
The bail rotated in its slot, but did not fall! 😱#AUSvWI pic.twitter.com/t6XgOibdqr
– cricket.com.au (@cricketcomau) January 26, 2024
As per the rules, the bails must fall from the stumps, after which the batsman will be considered out. However, there have been many cases where balls hit the stump bails but did not come out, which has saved the batsman many times.
West Indies finished Day 1 on 266/8 after an early top-order debacle. West Indies batsmen Joshua Da Silva and Kavem Hodge added 149 runs for the sixth wicket and got their team’s innings back on track.
Kevin Sinclair played an important role in leading West Indies to over 300 runs on Day 2 and played an innings of 50 runs off 98 balls.
In response to the West Indies’ first innings score, Australia lost their first wicket by 6 runs when Steve Smith returned to the dressing room for 6 runs. Marnus Labuschagne and Cameron Green were also dismissed for 3 and 8 runs respectively. Australia were dealt a blow when Travis Head, who was the Player of the Match, in the previous game, was dismissed for a duck.
Soon after the initial injury, Australian opener Usman Khawaja is the only batsman who has held his own at the crease and is trying to get Australia’s innings back on track with Alex Carey.
Australia won the first Test by ten wickets and will be hoping to continue their brilliant performance in Test cricket and win another Test series by whitewashing the opponent. Australia defeated Pakistan in their previous Test series 3-0.
