Australia made swift work of securing a 133-run victory on the fourth day in Grenada, and with it retained the Frank Worrell Trophy which they have held since 1995, as West Indies’ batting crumbled to 143 all out midway through the afternoon session.
Australia’s last three wickets were able to add only 22 runs to the overnight total, but despite positive talk the previous evening a target of 277 was always going to be a tall order for West Indies. In the end, it barely appeared as a dot on the horizon as they lost four wickets in less than 13 overs before lunch, including another Hall of Fame delivery from Pat Cummins to take Brandon King’s off stump.
Mitchell Starc’s 3 for 24 left him on 395 wickets heading into his 100th Test in Jamaica and Nathan Lyon ended the match with a superb catch over his shoulder from his own bowling to finish within one of Glenn McGrath’s tally of 563 as the seond most for Australia.
The visiting quicks made outstanding use of the new ball, which had been the most difficult period to at in this game. Regular deliveries leapt to take the gloves while there was always the fear in the back of a batters’ mind that one would scuttle low. Roston Chase and Shai Hope briefly counterattacked after lunch, but it would have needed something extraordinary to turn the game around. In all, 13 wickets fell in 41.3 overs on the fourth day.
The pattern had been similar to Barbados: West Indies had stayed with Australia across the first two days but couldn’t sustain the challenge. In this instance, it was the runs of Cameron Green and Steven Smith in the second innings which were a key difference.
Josh Hazelwood who has been outstanding in this series on pitches ideally suited to his hammering of back-of-a-length, set the tone with the ball as Australia set about defending the target, pinning John Campbell lbw with his second delivery.
Further wickets never felt far away. Keacy Carty was handed a life on 5 when Beau Webster couldn’t haul in a high chance at second slip – given how brilliant he is in the cordon, he would probably have expected to gather it – and Carty was given a painful working over with numerous blows on the hand and body. At one point, Australia had two short legs.
Starc ended Carty’s difficult stay with an outside edge from round the wicket and former captain Kraigg Brathwaite, in his 100th Test, fell for his fourth single-figure score of the series when he nibbled at one in Webster’s first over.
Briefly, King defied the conditions, getting off the mark first ball with a blistering cover drive against Starc before repeating the dose facing Hazlewood. He added a straight drive off Cummins to suggest a repeat of the first innings could be possible but, having seen Green drop a very tough chance at third slip low to his left, could do nothing to keep out Cummins.
The delivery after the ball was changed – a frequent event in this match as it was in Barbados – Cummins angled one in towards off stump which straightened, skimmed past the edge and smashed off stump. It brought back memories of Joe Root at Old Trafford during the 2019 Ashes.
With nothing much to lose, Chase and Hope played their shots after the interval with numerous deliveries flying in the air but away from fielders. Chase emphatically sent Webster down the ground for six too. But it was a high-risk strategy that wouldn’t last long and Hope fell to a top-edged pull when Hazlewood returned in place of Cummins.
Chase produced a magnificent flick for six over midwicket against Starc, which left even the bowler impressed, but was given lbw four deliveries later to bail-trimmer from around the wicket. In his next over, Starc trapped Justin Greaves with one that shot through at ankle height.
Alzarri Joseph had launched his first two deliveries for six against Lyon but was well held by Green running around the midwicket rope when he attempted another. As he had done in Barbados, Shamar Joseph also hit out and collected three sixes before finding long-on after Lyon had changed ends. Lyon was taken for six sixes, but had the final say.
The final Test in Jamaica, which will be a day-nighter at Sabina Park, begins on July 12.
Brief scores:
Australia 286 in 66.5 overs (Alex Carey 63, Beau Webster 60; Jayden Seales 2-45, Alzarri Joseph 4-61) and 243 in 71.3 overs (Steven Smith 71, Cameron Green 52; Jayden Seales 2-29, Shamar Joseph 4-66, Alzarri Joseph 2-52, Justin Greaves 2-22) beat West Indies 253 in 73.2 overs (Brandon King 75, John Campbell 40; Nathan Lyon 3-75, Josh Hazlewood 2-43, Pat Cummins 2-46) and143 in 34.3 overs (Roston Chase 34; Mitchell Starc 3-24, Nathan Lyon 3-42, Josh Hazelwood 2-33) by 133 runs
[Cricinfo]
