Key events
61st over: Australia 190-6 (Head 73, Starc 2) Greaves exits the attack, Shamar Joseph enters. The youngster’s dream debut has entered its 15th over and is seeking a fourth wicket to go with his 36 run flurry in the first innings. Instead Starc tucks him away for a legbye and Head taps him square for a single off the bat. Those two runs officially surpass the West Indies’ total of 188 and put Australia ahead in this Test.
60th over: Australia 187-6 (Head 70, Starc 2) WHACK! That first ball from Kemar Roach was right in the Travis Head Fun Zone and he swivelled on it and spiflicated that poor Kookaburra ball over the midwicket fielder and into the fence on the first bounce. Roach rallies to get one thumping into Head’s pads with a little inside edge. His miscued drive on the last brings Australia to within a run of West Indies’ total.
59th over: Australia 182-6 (Head 66, Starc 2) Starc gets off the mark with an elegant cover drive for two. Nice shot. Greaves has 2-28 from his 12 overs and Australia trail by 6 runs.
58th over: Australia 180-6 (Head 66, Starc 0) Head heaves Roach high over the infield but he only gets two runs to add to the first two he tucked down the legside. Australia have the chase into single figures now.
57th over: Australia 176-6 (Head 62, Starc 0) The tip of the Australian tail has arrived in the form of Mitchell Starc, a bowler with 345 wickets and – more notably given the task at hand – more than 2000 runs at 21. He ducks and weaves through Greaves’ over without adding to that impressive tally.
56th over: Australia 173-6 (Head 61, Starc 0) Here comes the Head counter attack! Having farewelled his bestie on the final ball of Greaves’ over, Head declares his intent to the first ball of Alzarri Joseph’s 16th over: a beligerent slash behind point. Lovely shot but he’s undone by the next few, playing and missing, not yet in the rhythm we saw last summer against West Indies, in India and during the 2023 Ashes.
WICKET! Carey c Da Silva b Greaves 15 (Australia 168-6)
West Indies strike back! Carey had just cut Greaves for four but the bowler’s response was excellent. He thumped it in fast on a length outside off-stump and Carey moved too slow and too sideways, catching a thick edge and sending it into the safe hands of the keeper. Australia are in trouble!
55th over: Australia 168-5 (Head 56, Carey 15) Cracked by Carey! Greaves put it short and wide an Carey cut truly to sent it flying past the fielder an into the rope. This Head-Carey partnership is now worth 39 and Australia trail by 20.
54th over: Australia 162-5 (Head 54, Carey 11) With the monkey off his back somewhat and the milestone of a 17th Test fifty notched, Head gets kinky with a shorter fifth ball, leaning back and tapping it over the slip cordon for four. Two earlier singles and a no-ball and single either side of Head’s boundary makes it eight off the over.
FIFTY for Travis Head! Australia are 156 for 5 still 32 runs behid
Alzarri Joseph was working the angles, using the crease to create confusion but Head outwitted his third ball, moving across and guiding it fine for an easy single that brings up his 17th Test half century.
53rd over: Australia 155-5 (Head 49, Carey 10) Travis Head hasn’t scored a half-century in his 10 innings since the Ashes Test in Leeds. He tries to get there with a pull shot off Greaves to deep midwicket but hits it too well and only gets a single to reach 49. Carey winds up twice and makes good contact each time but Brathwaite’s field foils any further runs.
52nd over: Australia 154-5 (Head 48, Carey 10) Alzarri Joseph is bang on target this over, putting it on a length and keeping Carey guessing. He extracts good bounce from the third to beats the Australian keeper in the tiny gaps between bat, pad and body. It’s a great ball and deserves a shout from the bowler but captain Brathwaite is wise not to review. It’s only air. We’re told this day two Adelaide crowd has built to 18,235.
51st over: Australia 154-5 (Head 48, Carey 10) In the air… safe! Greaves skidded that one on at 130kph and it caught Head on the hop. He popped it up just short of midwicket. Close! Carey runs a legbye to get Australia within 34 runs of overhauling West Indies’ first innings total. Head drives the final Greaves ball uppishly but can’t pierce the infield.
50th over: Australia 152-5 (Head 47, Carey 10) Head drives for four! Alzarri Joseph’s mind must have still been on lunch because his first delivery after the break is an absolute buffet ball which Head dispatches to the midoff boundary. He takes a single from the next to let Carey enter double-figures with a tap past square leg. Joseph buckles Head on the fifth with a fast riser but he guides the last to deep point for another run.
49th over: Australia 145-5 (Head 41, Carey 9) The sun is shining in Adelaide and we have two Adelaide lads resuming their innings to allrounder Justin Greaves who delivers a legside ball to get us underway. Head ambles a legbye. Curious move by captain Brathwaite not to get his strike bowlers Shamar Joseph or Kemar Roach on immediately after lunch to press home the advantage. But as if to prove me wrong, Greaves cuts Carey in half with the final ball, missing bat, pad, body and – somehow – stumps.
LUNCH: Australia are 144 for 5 chasing West Indies’ 188
Fascinating first session on day two. Australia added 84 runs from 27 overs but paid a high price for them, losing the three top-order wickets of Cameron Green (14), Usman Khawaja (45) and Mitchell Marsh (5).
Those key wickets came from good bowling and catching. Golden boy debutant Shamar Joseph (3-52) picked up where he left off with his fourth ball of the day claiming the big wicket of Green before fellow debutant Justin Greaves (1-18) drew an edge from Khawaja, adding to his good morning a few minutes later when he snaffled a snick from Marsh off the bowling of Kemar Roach (1-36).
West Indies captain Kraigg Brathwaite has swung the bowling changes beautifully this morning to keep the world’s No 1 Test side off-kilter and still 44 runs in arrears at lunch. Can two sons of South Australia Travis Head (41 not out) and Alex Carey (9 not out) wrestle back the momentum in front of a big Adelaide crowd? Or will the unfancied visitors continue to stick it to their critics – and the home side?
Time for a bite to eat and a bit to drink. See you in halfa.
48th over: Australia 144-5 (Head 41, Carey 9) Head cuts Roach’s first ball square and hustles two to hit 40, his highest score of the summer. A French cut by Head gets him a streaky single to short fine leg. Carey sees out the over and the two Croweaters head for the buffet. That’s lunch, folks.
47th over: Australia 141-5 (Head 38, Carey 9) Australia start this over 49 runs behind West Indies’ 188. Carey wats to whittle that deficit back in boundaries before lunch it seems. He lunges at Greaves’ second ball but misses by a milimetre. Pulls his head in on the next couple but shows a full face to the fifth and gets two runs down the ground.
46th over: Australia 137-5 (Head 37, Carey 7) Roach has the speed gun hovering in the high 120s, a few notches down on the speeds of the young firebrand who achieved the impossible in 2009 and forced ironman Ricky Ponting to retire hurt. We have a big shout for LBW against Head on the fifth ball here. Onfield decision is NOT OUT but because Head fell over himself so awkwardly, West Indies opt to review. Replays show it shaving leg stump so onfield decision will stand.
45th over: Australia 137-5 (Head 37, Carey 7) Two South Australian batters and best mates at the crease now in Travis Head and Alex Carey. Both are attacking batters but Shamar Joseph and the West Indies attack have their tails up and the ball moving. After five dots Carey throws down the gauntlet beautifully on-driving for four (make that five, it was a no-ball). Lovely stroke by a man back in form.
44th over: Australia 132-5 (Head 36, Carey 3) Marsh has edged so many times and watched it fall short. Finally, the West Indies twigged and moved in a footstep or two. It has now paid dividends as gully man Greaves took a lovely catch down low in what is becoming an excellent debut. New batter Alex Carey gets off the mark with a crisp cut for three.
WICKET! Marsh c Greaves b Roach 5 (Australia 128-5)
He edged and edged and edged again. And finally Marsh has edged into the hands of the West Indies slip cordon. Just reward for good bowling by Kemar Roach and just desserts for Marsh who looked scratchy for his five runs from 26 balls. West Indies are right in this Test!
43rd over: Australia 128-4 (Head 36, Marsh 5) Nose and toes. That’s the Shamar Joseph modus operandi at the moment. His first ball is an attempted sandshoe crusher which Head heaves at it but miscues back into his pads. His second sails over Head’s helmet and almost keeper too. Head slices the third through point for a single. Finally, Marsh gets on top of one, stepping out to cover drive a boundary. But he undoes the glory of that stroke with another bung inside edge that bounces over middle stump.
42nd over: Australia 122-4 (Head 35, Marsh 1) Mitch Marsh may have been the highest run-scorer in the series against Pakistan but he doesn’t look a form player at the moment. His edge to Roach’s fourth delivery is his fourth or fifth edge so far. He’s been very lucky they’ve all fallen short of slips. Finally he middles one down the ground but – luck! – an outstretched hand stops runs. Two fiercely attacking batters at the crease but somehow it’s a maiden.
41st over: Australia 122-4 (Head 35, Marsh 2) That man Shamar Joseph is back in the attack as West Indies go for the jugular knowing that one more wicket exposes the beginnings of Australia’s tail. Another edge by Marsh and it draws a shake of the head from the batter and a rueful grin from Joseph. He is loving every second of this Test debut. A Marsh mishit yields a single from the final delivery. Australia still trail by 66 runs.
40th over: Australia 121-4 (Head 35, Marsh 1) Edged by Marsh! But it falls short of second slip and he survives. Greaves has found his rhythm now and with the wicket of Khawaja in his kitbag, is relishing taking on the Bison.
39th over: Australia 120-4 (Head 34, Marsh 1) Great duel unfolding here between Travis Head and Shamar Joseph. The young quick has his speed up to 140kph but Head has his eye in. Short ball, full ball, every delivery a challenge. Until the fourth where Head’s patience snaps and he pulls brutally for four over square. Head then swats the next, a no-ball, behind backward square for two. New batter Marsh taps a single on the last to get off the mark.
38th over: Australia 113-4 (Head 29, Marsh 0) Greaves has his first Test wicket it puts Australia on its heels. They have lost their top four batters for not many (by their standards) and are still 75 runs short of West Indies’ total of 188. That 55-run 10th wicket partnership by Kemar Roach and Shamar Joseph is getting more valuable by the minute.
WICKET! Khawaja c Athanaze b Greaves 45 (Australia 112-4)
Khawaja succumbs! He survived an lbw shout the previous delivery but Greaves hung the next ball wide outside off-stump and the veteran opener chased and got a thick edge where second slip Athanaza took a good catch lunging to this right. That’s Justin Greaves’ first Test wicket and it’s a valuable one. West Indies hit back again and Australia in a bit of trouble.
37th over: Australia 112-3 (Khawaja 45, Head 28) Khawaja gets in on the action! Motie dropped it short and Khawaja caned it through covers to the boundary to move within one shot of his 26th Test half-century.
36th over: Australia 107-3 (Khawaja 41, Head 27) SIX from Head! Having played himself in, the Adelaide boy hit the accelerator for his home fans. That one from Greaves was straight and slow and the moustachioed No 5 heaved it high and heavy over the fence and 15 rows back. He thrashes another through backward point but good fielding keeps it to one.
35th over: Australia 100-3 (Khawaja 41, Head 20) Spinner Gudakesh Motie is on but Khawaja, a master of the art, has see all this before. Motie gets a couple to skid on and the last to jag back but there’s no runs and no mistakes so honours end even between bat and ball.
34th over: Australia 100-3 (Khawaja 41, Head 18) CRACK goes Head! Greaves’ second ball was full and wide and Head flogged it on an aerial route wide of deep point. That’s 3000 Test runs for Head. He flays the final delivery to the rope but a dive on the boundary keeps it to two. Australia’s 100 is up and they now trail by 88 runs.
33rd over: Australia 94-3 (Khawaja 41, Head 14) Kemar Roach returns. The big 35-year-old is into the 80th Test of his esteemed career. He has 265 wickets at 27.8 placing him fifth in the all-time wicket-takers list for the West Indies, ahead of Joel Garner but behind the holy trinity of Courney Walsh (519), Curtley Ambrose (405) and Malcolm Marshall (376). He bowls a maiden here.
32nd over: Australia 94-3 (Khawaja 41, Head 14) Justin Pierre Greaves’ first ball in Test cricket is a beauty. It’s only 120kph but it rises sharply on Khawaja and he flinches but drops it at his feet. Good start for the 29-year-old allrounder from Barbados. He floats the next few wide. Khawaja takes him for one but Head wants a closer look at the rookie before he starts flaying him. Just one from the over. Welcome to Test cricket, Mr Greaves.
31st over: Australia 93-3 (Khawaja 40, Head 14) BANG goes Head! New bowler kemar Roach floated in a tame half-volley and Head thrashed it through covers for his first boundary of the day. Good comeback though as Roach draws a wild slash that inside edges just shy of the stumps. Head gets the final world, whipping the final delivery square for another four. Travis Head is away!
30th over: Australia 85-3 (Khawaja 40, Head 6) Head cuts Alzarri Joseph’s first ball fine and gets two. The West Indies bowlers have their tail up after the early wicket of Cameron Green and are challenging the batters with good balls on a length and tempting traps wide of the stumps. It’s smart bowling. And credit goes to their bowling coach Shaun Tait, the former Australian quick from Nairne, South Australia once known the world over as “The Wild Thing”.
29th over: Australia 82-3 (Khawaja 40, Head 3) Almost an edge! Khawaja had a big swish at Shamar Joseph’s first ball and the bowler threw his head back in disbelief. Khawaja taps a run through covers and Head returns the dose, running a ball to long leg. Khawaja swings hard at the final delivery, heaving it into the deep but short of the rope. He gets another two.
28th over: Australia 78-3 (Khawaja 37, Head 2) Australia trail by 111 as Alzarri Joseph enters his 11th over with Usman Khawaja facing the music. He hops to meet a ball on the rise and backhands it fine to scamper a run. Head chases a ball on the same trajectory drawing a noise but no run. Joseph bangs the next one in short but Head resists the temptation to swat it square. Joseph tries it again – he must’ve seen the multiplicity of clips of Head falling to the short ball – but the batter veers away again.
27th over: Australia 77-3 (Khawaja 36, Head 2) Travis Head now gets his first look at Shamar Joseph. Although he hasn’t had much of a summer so far hius reciord against the West Indies is epic – four Tests, 312 runs at an average of 156 at a strike-rate of 90.4. What plans have the visitors formulated? Joseph tests him with a short ball then goes full before Head winds up a big pull shot that only yields a single. Khawaja clips wide of mid-on to hang onto the strike.
26th over: Australia 75-3 (Khawaja 35, Head 1) Head taps his sixth ball through covers to get off the mark. Khawaja now springs into life, springing onto his toes to viciously pull Alzarri Joseph to the boundary wide of mid-on. His strike rate might be under 48 but that’s Khawaja’s fifth four. Of course he should’ve been out caught by keeper Da Silva yesterday when he was just 6.
25th over: Australia 69-3 (Khawaja 31, Head 0) Shamar Joseph enters his eighth over with Australia trailing by 119 runs. Khawaja is content to let the first length balls two pass. He tries to get bat on the legside ball that follows but can’t. Joseph is slinging them down in the high 130s. He’s not a tall man – more Malcolm Marshall than Joel Garner – but his feats in this Test will make sure he’s forever a big man in his home town of Baracara, Guyana (pop 350).
24th over: Australia 69-3 (Khawaja 31, Head 0) Here comes Alzarri Joseph again and his first ball beats Khawaja. Finally, on the fourth, Uzzy runs a single to notch his first runs of the day. Khawaja has a good record at the Adelaide Oval – 392 runs at 48 – and with an attacking batter at the other end to keep the runs flowing, he can settle into his sheet anchor role.
WICKET! Green c Da Silva b S Joseph (Australia 67-3)
The dream debut continues for Shamar Joseph! He responds to Green spanking him for consecutive boundaries with a ball that moves through the air and forces Green into a defensive stroke. But it pops up and moves enough to catch feathered edge from the big allrounder. Joseph has 3-27 and Green is gorn!
23rd over: Australia 67-2 (Khawaja 30, Green 14) Here’s the man of the moment and the other Joseph in this West Indies attack, Shamar Joseph. Green plays out a couple of dots before making a statement: a cracking boundary through backward point and a powerful flick through midwicket…
22nd over: Australia 59-2 (Khawaja 30, Green 6) Here we go, folks. It will be Alzarri Joseph bowling to Usman Khawaja. It’s a cloudy day in Adelaide and so cool a few of the West Indies players have called for jumpers. Joseph’s six balls, all delivered above 130kph. can’t get the blood pumping either. Khawaja plays out a maiden.
Joseph’s wonderful performance on debut stole some of the shine from Australia’s Josh Hazlewood hitting 250 Test wickets although I doubt the ever-humble NSW quick would begrudge being shaded by a young quick on the rise.
The Bendemeer Bullet’s four-wicket blitz – at one stage Hazlewood had 4-14 before Joseph’s late hitting battered his figures to 4-44 – gave Australia the only one team in Test history to boast an attack featuring four bowlers with more than 250 wickets each. Extraordinary.
Shamar Joseph shook the world yesterday. His 36 off 41 balls was the highest ever score by a West Indies No 11 on debut and equalled the international record set by English No 11 Norman Cowans in 1982. Joseph then took a wicket with his first ball in Test cricket – just the 23rd man in the history of the game to achieve the feat.
“Getting Steve Smith, I’ll remember this for the rest of my life,” the 24-year-old quick said after stumps. “I will actually take a picture and take it home and post it in my house.”
Joseph’s modesty belied a clever plan devised for the Australian ace. “I’ve watched a few Test matches of Steve Smith, and I think that area is a weakness for him,” Joseph said. “I just said ‘I’ll hit the top of off’ because he’s a batsman that treads across a lot. He tries to take you off your line, so I stick to the basics and try to hit the top of off with some late movement away and got the edge. I was tense, bowling to Steve Smith isn’t easy.”
Joseph said he had a premonition he would achieve the extraordinary. “I had a few conversations with the boys in the dressing room, and I told them I would get a wicket with my first ball!” he laughed.
For those who came in late, here’s how Day One played out…
Preamble
Morning all, and welcome back to Adelaide Oval for day two of the Guardian’s over-by-over coverage of this first Test between Australia and West Indies for the Frank Worrell Trophy. Angus Fontaine here to navigate the early sessions for you with Geoff Lemon to bring you home.
Day one was wonderful – full of skill, courage and drama.
Pat Cummins became the first captain in 44 years to win the toss in Adelaide and bowl first. The decision paid off with Cummins (4-41) and Josh Hazlewood (4-44) ripping through the West Indies for 188, but only after a fiercely entertaining last-wicket partnership between debutant No 11 Shamar Joseph (36) and No 10 Kemar Roach (17*). Their 55-run last stand delivered a riproaring riposte to Australia’s famed bowling cartel and injected vivid life into this Test.
Joseph then stole all the headlines – and hearts – when his first ball in Test cricket dismissed Australia’s new opening batsman Steve Smith for 12. He later claimed the wicket of No 3 Marnus Labuschagne to strike another blow for the visitors and send the world’s No 1 side staggering to stumps at 59-2.
It capped an extraordinary rise for the 24-year-old quick, who grew up in the tiny village of Baracara on the banks of the remote Canje River. A year ago, Joseph had abandoned his cricket career to work as a bouncer and logger in support of his wife and two children and his five sisters and three brothers back home. But in February 2023 he rekindled the dream, and nine games into his first-class career, he is now a Test player.
Joseph (2-12) has the opportunity to further bedazzle his Cinderella story this morning when he attempts to uproot overnight batters Usman Khawaja (30* but dropped on 6) and Cameron Green (6*). Under cloudy Adelaide skies, on a wicket with plenty of surprises and with a local hero in Travis Head padded up to come in next, it’s going to be fun, fun, fun.