
Cummins picks Australia's "special" player after wrapping up "great" Test against WI with victory
Bridgetown: Australia captain Pat Cummins was all in praise of "special" Josh Hazlewood, who ripped through the West Indies batting unit in what turned out to be a "great" Test, ending with the Baggy Greens cruising to a 159-run triumph with consummate ease at Kensington Oval.
After getting off to a dodgy start in the first innings, Australia managed to get into a position to challenge the West Indies in the battle for authority. But the tourists eventually gained control, thanks to their experience and winning pedigree. After Travis Head (61), Beau Webster (63) and Alex Carey (65) fuelled Australia's second innings to 310, Hazelwood took the onus of enthralling the fans by orchestrating a classic pace onslaught.
With his textbook line and lengths, Hazlwood rattled the Caribbean stars to make quick work of their batting order and forced the hosts to pack on 141 in 33.4 overs. The seasoned quick returned with sizzling figures of 5/43 in the second innings to ensure Australia successfully defended the 301-run target.
"He's special (on Josh Hazlewood), if there's anything in the pitch, he has a good presentation of the seam, bowls the perfect lengths and keeps impressing. He's come off runs in the Sheffield Shield (on Beau Webster), he's got runs in different conditions and keeps keeping the scoreboard ticking," Cummins said after the match.
The West Indies managed to escape with a slender 10-run lead after bundling out Australia on 180 and piling up 190 on the board in the first innings. However, Australia's resilient middle-order responded boldly and ran away with the game in the second innings to turn the contest into a seemingly one-sided affair. However, for Cummins, the majority of the Test was an "even fight" between both sides.
"I think it was a great Test, thought it would be a tight day coming into the game today, we played well though. But for most of the Test, it was an even fight. I thought we could get to 200, but the way the boys batted. Carey out there, I thought we had enough," he added.
Australia will have five days of rest before embarking on their next assignment, the second Test, against the West Indies, which begins on July 3. Cummins laid out their plans for the short period and said, "We'll have a couple of days off, a short turnaround for the next game, we'll fly down over there in a couple of days, have a look at the conditions and plan for the next game."
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Times of Oman
11 hours ago
- Times of Oman
Cummins picks Australia's "special" player after wrapping up "great" Test against WI with victory
Bridgetown: Australia captain Pat Cummins was all in praise of "special" Josh Hazlewood, who ripped through the West Indies batting unit in what turned out to be a "great" Test, ending with the Baggy Greens cruising to a 159-run triumph with consummate ease at Kensington Oval. After getting off to a dodgy start in the first innings, Australia managed to get into a position to challenge the West Indies in the battle for authority. But the tourists eventually gained control, thanks to their experience and winning pedigree. After Travis Head (61), Beau Webster (63) and Alex Carey (65) fuelled Australia's second innings to 310, Hazelwood took the onus of enthralling the fans by orchestrating a classic pace onslaught. With his textbook line and lengths, Hazlwood rattled the Caribbean stars to make quick work of their batting order and forced the hosts to pack on 141 in 33.4 overs. The seasoned quick returned with sizzling figures of 5/43 in the second innings to ensure Australia successfully defended the 301-run target. "He's special (on Josh Hazlewood), if there's anything in the pitch, he has a good presentation of the seam, bowls the perfect lengths and keeps impressing. He's come off runs in the Sheffield Shield (on Beau Webster), he's got runs in different conditions and keeps keeping the scoreboard ticking," Cummins said after the match. The West Indies managed to escape with a slender 10-run lead after bundling out Australia on 180 and piling up 190 on the board in the first innings. However, Australia's resilient middle-order responded boldly and ran away with the game in the second innings to turn the contest into a seemingly one-sided affair. However, for Cummins, the majority of the Test was an "even fight" between both sides. "I think it was a great Test, thought it would be a tight day coming into the game today, we played well though. But for most of the Test, it was an even fight. I thought we could get to 200, but the way the boys batted. Carey out there, I thought we had enough," he added. Australia will have five days of rest before embarking on their next assignment, the second Test, against the West Indies, which begins on July 3. Cummins laid out their plans for the short period and said, "We'll have a couple of days off, a short turnaround for the next game, we'll fly down over there in a couple of days, have a look at the conditions and plan for the next game."


Times of Oman
11 hours ago
- Times of Oman
Jayasuriya's five-for wraps up thumping win for Sri Lanka over Bangladesh in second Test
Colombo: Sri Lanka wrapped up the second Test and the series by orchestrating a resounding victory by an innings and 78 runs and a 1-0 series win over Bangladesh, claiming some valuable points in the World Test Championship 2025-27 cycle on Saturday. Sri Lanka needed just 28 minutes of the morning session of the fourth day to wrap up the entire series and secure their ninth-innings victory over Bangladesh. Left-arm ball tweaker Prabath Jayasuriya did the bulk of the damage with the spin traps and returned with figures of 5/56, his 12th five-wicket haul in Test format. Jayasuriya weaved his magic just three deliveries into his first over of the fourth day. Litton Das tried to negate the threat with forward defence but edged it to wicketkeeper Kusal Mendis (14) behind the stumps. He stung Bangladesh again in his next over by having Nayeem Hasan stumped on 5(8). He completed his five-wicket haul by pouching a return catch to his right from Taijul Islam. Tharindu Ratnayake got into the thick of the action and trapped Ebadot Hossain in front of the stumps in the next over to pull the curtain down on Bangladesh's innings in just 34 deliveries into the morning session. Jayasuriya spun his best against Bangladesh and found his lost mojo after going wicketless in the first innings and striking once in Galle. In the second innings, a total of nine wickets fell to spin, with Tharindu and captain Dhananjaya de Silva sharing two apiece apart from Jayasuriya's five-for. Earlier in the Test, Bangladesh won the toss and opted to bat, just as they had done in the series opener in Galle. However, they failed to replicate their previous success and turned out to be pale shadows of their former self. They finished with 247 on the board, and in reply, Sri Lanka notched 458 on the board, courtesy of Pathum Nissanka's flamboyant 158(254), Dinesh Chandimal's resilient 93(153) and Kusal's quick-fire 84(87). Bangladesh attempted to conjure an inspired performance but fell short in their efforts. Jayasuriya tore through Bangladesh's batting order and forced them to pack on 133 in 44.2 overs, sealing a 1-0 series win for the hosts. Brief Scores: Bangladesh 247 and 133 (Mushfiqur Rahim 26, Prabath Jayasuriya 5-56) vs Sri Lanka 458 (Pathum Nissanka 158, Dinesh Chandimal 93, Kusal Mendis 84, Taijul Islam 5-131).


Times of Oman
2 days ago
- Times of Oman
Starc dismisses Lord's repeat as Australia seek to avert rare series loss to West Indies
Bridgetown: Mitchell Starc believes the surface at Kensington Oval won't follow the same trajectory as the one at Lord's during the recent World Test Championship (WTC) final, as Australia aim to set a challenging target and avoid a rare series defeat to the West Indies, reported ESPNcricinfo. Earlier this month at Lord's, both Australia and South Africa struggled with low first-innings scores before conditions eased dramatically on Day 3 under bright skies. Starc himself contributed a half-century in that game, followed by Aiden Markram and Temba Bavuma steering South Africa to a memorable chase. Travis Head and Beau Webster will resume Australia's second innings on Day 3 with a lead of 82. "I think the wicket at Lord's was very flat when the sun came out," Starc said, as quoted from ESPNcricinfo. "I certainly found it easy to bat on. This (one), we've seen these two days, there's so much variable (bounce) there. We saw yesterday on day one the ball shoot low, and then the next over it jumped up and created a wicket. I think that'll probably be the same tomorrow. And some good bowling that creates enough chances," he added. "There was a little bit of a partnership there with Beau and Trav (Travis Head) (27 so far) there at the end, so hopefully that can continue in the morning and then push it as far as we can (with) some lower-order runs and then go from there. I think there's enough chances (being created) as we've seen for the last two days, that you're never quite in and you never know what total is going to be enough," he noted. When West Indies head coach Daren Sammy was asked what target he'd consider chaseable, he joked and said, "I'd love to chase 82. Somebody get a double hat-trick or something." The remark, though light-hearted, came from a visibly frustrated Sammy, who has voiced concerns about umpiring decisions and was left disappointed by his team's fielding lapses. West Indies dropped Sam Konstas twice on zero, taking their total dropped catches in the match to six, five of which came off Shamar Joseph's bowling. Fortunately for the hosts, Konstas managed only 5 before Joseph dismissed him for the second time in the match. "Pretty sure they are going to get a nice bollocking. Not too angry, but for sure, it's an attitude," Sammy said, as quoted from ESPNcricinfo. "The same way you practice your batting and your bowling, fielding and catching become equally important. Catching a slip is a skill. As somebody who fielded there, it's a skill we constantly have to work on, putting time in it," he added. "Good teams will make you pay. So far, it's not been too costly, but this is something that, for us to improve on the goals that we have for this team, is going to continue. Our catching efficiency has to go up," he noted. Despite the missed opportunities, West Indies and especially Shamar Joseph have made an early statement in the series. The pacer has exposed Konstas' vulnerability, dismissing him cheaply twice with scores of just 3 and 5, and making the young batter's second innings particularly uncomfortable. "I think he had three chances and still scored five," Sammy said, as per ESPNcricinfo. "Credit to our boys. The plans that we had against their top order and the areas that the guys bowled at him, made it very difficult. Kudos to Shamar, (because) before the Test started, he did say he's ready for Konstas when they asked about him," he added.