Shamar Joseph braved a toe injury and grabbed 7-68 as the young fast bowler inspired the West Indies to its first win in Australia in 27 years in a gripping conclusion to the day-night test at the Gabba on Sunday.
Young quick Shamar Joseph has inspired West Indies to one of Test cricket’s most remarkable upset victories, taking 7-68 to rout world champions Australia for 207 at their Gabba fortress and square the ledger in the battle for the Frank Worrell Trophy.
Without a win in Australia since 1997, West Indies overcame all the odds to surge to a stunning eight-run win in Brisbane midway through day four of this pink-ball Test.
And Joseph, who began the day off the field after sustaining a nasty blow to his right big toe from Mitchell Starc on Saturday night, was the architect of the chaos, his scintillating spell almost single-handedly levelling the series at one-all and offering an unlikely beacon of hope for the future of the five-day game in the Caribbean.
Only new opener Steve Smith seemed immune to the powers of the Guyanese paceman, the 34-year-old scoring 91 not out to defy the critics and become the first Australian to carry his bat since David Warner (who also happened to do it in his fourth innings as an opener, in a loss to New Zealand back in 2011).
Resuming on 33 with Australia 2-60, Smith and Cameron Green were well restricted by Alzarri Joseph, Kemar Roach and Justin Greaves in the opening exchanges. Green found the boundary from the final ball of the day’s seventh over, clipping Roach through midwicket, but the next two boundaries – one from each batter – came via edges through and over the slips cordon as the third-wicket stand passed 50.
The second of those came from the fourth ball bowled by Shamar Joseph, who had entered the action 15 minutes into proceedings before being called upon to bowl from the Vulture Street end at 2.40pm.
Starting at a relatively sedate 135kph, the 24-year-old soon worked through the gears, clocking 149kph during a 10-over spell that must rank among the finest seen at the Gabba.
In the space of 16 balls, he accounted for Green, Travis Head, Mitchell Marsh and Alex Carey to leave Australia rocking at 6-136 – still 80 runs shy of their target.
Green (42) loves to bat at the Gabba and he looked to be finding the touch that has eluded him since his return to the Test side when an off-cutter from Joseph got through his defences. The ball collected his right forearm, ricocheted onto his hip and bounced back onto the stumps to leave the batter bemused and the bowler elated.
It was a major breakthrough but with seven wickets still in hand and only 103 needed, it seemed more likely to be a footnote than a turning point.
That theory changed with the very next ball when Travis Head played all around a yorker that Joseph, coming from over the wicket, speared in cleverly from wide of the crease. It was Head’s third consecutive golden duck in Tests at the Gabba and made him the first Australian to make a king pair in the format since Ryan Harris in 2010.
At the other end, Smith suddenly looked to have switched into the sort of supreme form that defined much of his Test career. A cover drive for three brought up his second half-century – and his highest score – of the summer and brought Marsh on strike, who promptly hooked his first ball for four.
By this point Shamar Joseph was hitting 145kph and when he wasted no time in squaring up Marsh (10) with a searing back-of-a-length delivery, which the batter nicked to Greaves at second slip, whose fumbled attempt popped up and allowed him to hold onto second time around.
Carey (2) was the next man to go, becoming the third man to be castled by Joseph when the bowler’s 145.4kph rocket went straight through the defences of the ‘keeper-batter.
The generally aggressive Starc threw himself into the action with what looked to be a planned assault, the left-hander throwing any notion of caution aside as he swung for the ropes. For a while, in between a couple of skied chances falling perilously close to fielders, it worked, as he and Smith put on 35 for the seventh wicket.
His luck ran out from his 14th delivery however, by which time he had scored 21, when an attempted pull shot was skied to the safe hands of Kevin Sinclair running round from mid-on to give Jospeh his fifth wicket.
Captain Pat Cummins was unable to repeat his first-innings heroics, edging behind to become victim number six for the paceman, and his wicket meant the session was extended by four overs to allow a possible finish before the dinner break.
At the dinner break on Sunday, Australia was 187-8 with Steve Smith unbeaten on 76, and seemingly holding the key for victory for the hosts, which lost six wickets in the first session.
Nathan Lyon was not out on five, with only Josh Hazlewood left to bat for Australia.
In between sessions, the new face of West Indies cricket signed autographs to young fans on the fence, and when the players returned, it was Alzarri Joseph’s turn to get among the wickets as Nathan Lyon nicked off for nine.
It left Smith and No.11 Josh Hazlewood still requiring 25 to win.
Smith pulled four through midwicket from Shamar Joseph and then, from the fourth ball of the over, was struck on the glove by a 145kph snorter that looped up and narrowly avoided a wide second slip.
From the first ball of Alzarri Joseph’s next over and with the field spread, Smith played what will go down as one of the bravest and most audacious shots of his career, getting down and ramping the paceman spectacularly over fine leg for six.
He pinched another single, Hazlewood survived the over, and Australia needed 12 to win.
Two balls later, he guided the ball wide of third man and stole two runs, moving to 90 in the process and bringing his team to within 10.
For Smith, that was all she wrote.
Joseph had two balls at Hazlewood.
He needed only one.
From around the wicket and again pitching full, he sent the batter’s off stump flying with a 142.9kph thunderbolt, sending West Indians into delirium and flooring the cricket-watching world.
Like a Caribbean sprinter, he set off around the Gabba, his teammates chasing him to celebrate one of the all-time great test performances. watch here:
On Saturday, West Indies made early inroads through as Australia ended Day 3 at 60-2 still needing 156 runs
Australia lost its recently named test player of the year Usman Khawaja (10) and Marnus Labuschagne (5) before Smith and Green saw Australia to stumps.
West Indies wasted numerous opportunities on Saturday to swell its lead beyond 215 runs as it got bowled out for 193 in the last session after No. 11 batter Shamar Joseph had to retire hurt.
Hazlewood picked up 3-23 with his impeccable bowling and Lyon grabbed 3-42 with Starc and Green picking up one wicket apiece.
