Chase and Joseph battle hard but Aussies go 1-0 up
Chase and Joseph battle hard but Aussies go 1-0 up
West Indies tour of Australia
Series: Two matches for Frank Worrell trophy
Day 5 of 1st Test Match
Venue: Perth Stadium, Western Australia
Result: Australia won by 164 runs
Scorecard: https://bit.ly/ausvwi1sttest
Roston Chase and Alzarri Joseph combined for a record eight-wicket partnership which at one stage looked like it would give West Indies hope of saving the match but they both succumbed to spin which secured a victory for the hosts.
Chase, batting atn8, then carried the fight with 55 – his 10th Test fifty – in a precious 82-run, eighth wicket partnership with Joseph who entertained with a bold 43. This took the score from 233-7 to 315 when Joseph was eighth man out midway through the second session. West Indies were eventually bowled out for 333, with the best bowler being off-spinner Nathan Lyon with 6-128, while Travis Head had 2-25 with his off-breaks.
While Chase faced 85 balls in nearly 2-¼ hours and counted three fours and a six, Joseph used the long handle, and hit four fours and three sixes off 73 balls. Joseph eventually played down the wrong line to the occasional spin of Head and was bowled and Chase was ninth out, lofting Lyon to deep mid-wicket where Mitchell Starc took a tumbling catch.
Joseph taking the long handle! #AUSvWI pic.twitter.com/0o1vzFB3kX
— cricket.com.au (@cricketcomau) December 4, 2022
GOOD TO SEE FIGHT
Captain Kraigg Brathwaite was West Indies best batter in the match with scores of 64 and 110 – when he was dismissed on the final morning to a superb delivery from Lyon. Speaking after the match he said: said: “It’s good to see the fight from the batters, but still a lot of improvement to be done. here was consideration to go for runs if we had wickets, but losing wickets put us under pressure.”
Chase noted:
“Throughout this match we really applied ourselves and worked hard. Before the match the captain called for a ‘fight’ and asked that we play five days or hard Test cricket. He led from the front with the bat, with a great century in the second innings and gave us the belief. We played with great spirt and commitment. We now have to regroup and come again tougher in Adelaide. We believe we can do it there.”
BOTTOM LINE
The series will now move Adelaide in South Australia for the second and final Test which will be the first ever pink-ball day/night contest between two teams. The match bowls off at Adelaide Oval on Thursday at 2:30pm (12 midnight Eastern Caribbean/11pm Wednesday Jamaica). The return of the visitors to the iconic venue will mark the 30-year anniversary of one of the greatest Test matches ever seen in Adelaide when West Indies won by a single run. It will be the West Indies seventh and final match of the year. They have so far won three, drawn two and lost one.