Going into day three of this exhilarating test match, Australia’s overall performance against the West Indies proved why it’s nearly impossible to beat them. Entering the day, only up by 45 runs, many analysts started showing serious concern about them potentially losing and needing to make wholesale changes. But, yet again, the mighty Aussies figured out a way to have full control over another match and nearly finish it off. Captain Pat Cummins was able to instill tons of confidence into his team today, as a few players who looked completely out of touch were able to change their ways today.
As Australia will go into tomorrow with the bat still despite a few hiccups at the end, they will look to build on a 254-run lead. Facing a few rainstorms and light delays today, the Aussies were still able to keep their composure and hope they can both that on display.
With both Roston Chase, although struggling in bowling, and Pat Cummins having been technically sound in their captaincy decisions so far, it could lead to an epic end ahead of day four. Since there are still nearly 14 hours for that to occur, it is vital to understand the key players and moments that took place today, which included several breaks.
Australia’s Middle Order Shows Signs of Life
As batting consistency was a significant concern for this Australian unit, today was a day when they finally showed signs of life after a tough start to the innings on Day 2. When Nathan Lyon was removed for 8 runs on 33 deliveries, his squad was stuck at 23/3 before the game-changing Cameron Green and Steve Smith partnership began.
Although the all-rounder Green seemed to struggle a little to find hitting room around this St George’s stadium during his first 15-20 balls, he ended up finishing with 52 runs. Something that gave him even more motivation to keep going on was seeing the stroke play from Steven Smith‘s 71-run knock.
Although Beau Webster got out for two, he was the only player who was constantly performing for Australia in this series before these innings. Another player who came back after a very tough first innings was Travis Head, who scored runs rapidly despite wickets starting to fall around him later.
Finishing with 39 runs, Travis Head started displaying an elegant ability to hit fours in open gaps and kept moving around his crease. Head did get out by getting cleaned bowled on an extremely fast ball, but his partnerships were a great bridge for late-order batsmen like Alex Carey, plus Pat Cummins, to work with.
West Indies Bowling Attack Has Up And Down Day
Although the pace attack has been the Windies ‘ unit’s biggest strength, today was a bit of an off day for them. Star Alzarri Joseph started with a beautiful delivery that took out Nathan Lyon and had Australia in a world of trouble. On a day where he kept the economy under 3.9, it was clear he had a purpose of bowling unplayable balls and making batsmen have a quicker reaction time to attack.
With Justin Greaves also having a big-time day, his impactful wickets, including those of Steve Smith and Beau Webster, really limited Australia’s scoring from going out of hand completely.
When talking about the negatives of this bowling unit today, one issue was the number of runs Captain Roston Chase was giving as a full-time spinner. Having an economy of over 5.0 and not hitting the correct spots, he still remains quite a liability for this unit, especially in the middle overs.
It felt like Australian batsmen were taking him on with ease and enjoyed playing his deliveries, while West Indies decided to end Chase’s spell quickly. As Anderson Philip did finish with a 3.55 economy, it was clear that towards the end, everyone was trying to go for big shots on this young pacer. Knowing this, he was only cut to 9 overs today and may need to replicate his 1st innings performance for a chance in bowling spells again.
The Jayden Seals and Shamar Joseph Names Live On
Although the rest of their bowling attack was either just above average or had rough days, West Indies had two bowlers who exceeded everyone once again. With the names being Jayden Seals and Shamar Joseph, they were a major reason the Windies could limit Australia’s score.
Seales did pick up his wickets early yesterday, but was a very potent threat as he had 5-7 close chances to add to that total. With this being said, he ended up bowling 16 overs and just leaked 29 runs in it, with a lower than 2.0 economy. The biggest storyline was how, despite the West Indies giving up 20 boundaries today, Seals didn’t even allow one and had 6 maidens.
Meanwhile, Shamar Joseph continues developing a wonderful story for himself as he got another two wickets against Australia. A fast bowler who always shows his full range of balls and can get the most important people out, he managed to do that twice today. As Steve Smith and Cameron Green looked like they were going to take charge of this match, Joseph bowled an immaculate delivery full of pace to break it.
The even bigger one, though, was towards days end when Travis Head and Alex Carey were looking quite sharp for a few overs. As captain Roston Chase called on Shamar Joseph to end another partnership, he did the task at hand and has West Indies closer to finally bowling out Australia.
Also Read: WI vs AUS: “Captaining The West Indies Is A Great Job”- Roston Chase Ready To Embrace Leadership