Former Australian cricketer Rodney Hogg has been the talk of the town ever since the West Indies’ incredible eight-run triumph against Australia in the second Test at the Gabba on Sunday (January 28). Caribbean captain Kraigg Brathwaite remarked that his squad took inspiration from Rodney Hogg‘s comments to stun the hosts in Brisbane after his team achieved the series-leveling victory.
Rodney Hogg, a former Australian spinner, is happy that his remarks encouraged the West Indies to perform well on their tour of Australia. The Victorian demonstrated how the Caribbeans greatly benefited from a little game time. After the West Indies lost by 10 wickets in Adelaide Hogg had called the West Indies side ‘hopeless’ and ‘pathetic’. Hogg remarked on Channel 10 that weak teams shouldn’t travel to play and that Mitchell Starc could demolish the tourists in Brisbane with the pink ball.
They were hopeless before I made those comments- Rodney Hogg on West Indies team
According to Rodney Hogg, he changed the course of West Indies cricket, and the Caribbeans improved as the series progressed. Sen.com.au cited him as saying:
“Well, apparently, I’ve reinvented West Indies Test cricket. They were hopeless before I made those comments, and they’ve. They’ve all jumped up and been motivated to play well.”
West Indies captain Kraigg Brathwaite stated after their triumph in Brisbane that they intended to dispute Hogg’s claim that they were “pathetic”.
“They came here with six guys that didn’t have a Test cap, and they were so inexperienced, and you sort of thought, ‘Well, they are a bunch of hopeless players’, but give them some game time, a few of them showed, some real ability, didn’t they? The better that the longer the two games went on, the better they got,” Hogg explained.
It was fantastic to see them given an opportunity to play a second Test match against Australia- Rodney Hogg
Hogg went on to say that his prediction would come true when the West Indies were at 64-5 on Day 1:
“When I looked at the West Indies in that first innings in this second Test, I was having a look here, and I’m thinking to myself, ‘How good was my prediction?’ They were 5/65, and Starc had three wickets … it was looking like a dead-set two-and-a-half-day game,”
“What an amazing performance. It was fantastic to see them given an opportunity to play a second Test match against Australia,” Hogg stated.
With a brilliant spell, young bowler Shamar Joseph secured the West Indies’ first Test victory on Australian soil since 1997.
After a Mitchell Starc yorker crushed his toe, Joseph battled through a restless night to emerge with figures of 7/68 in Australia’s second inning. He took 13 wickets in two matches during his first-ever Test series, winning the Player-of-the-Series award.