Australia have gone through the home Test summer undefeated for the third straight season.
After beating New Zealand 2-0 in November-December, Australia secured the Frank Worrell Trophy with a 2-0 win over the West Indies.
Australia’s last home loss was November 2012 against South Africa in Perth. Since then, Australia beat Sri Lanka 3-0 (2012-13), England 5-0 (2013-14) and India 2-0 (2014-15).
The West Indies weren’t given much hope of breaking Australia’s run. That seemed justified as they lost to a green Cricket Australia XI in Brisbane before the first Test. Sadly, the West Indies’ best players were playing in the Big Bash. Surely Australia would cruise to a 3-0 win.
In Hobart, Adam Voges (269 not out) and Shaun Marsh (182) scored 449 for the fourth wicket as Australia made 4/583 declared in 114 overs. Josh Hazlewood (7/78 from 28.3 overs), James Pattinson (5/95 from 23), Peter Siddle (2/70 from 22), Nathan Lyon (3/60 from 23) and Mitch Marsh (1/50 from 10) needed only 106.3 overs to dismiss the Windies for 223 and 148. Darren Bravo’s 108 in the first innings and Kraigg Brathwaite’s 94 in the second saved the Windies from complete embarrassment.
Everyone expected the West Indies to be easy meat again at the MCG and the cynicism seemed justified. Again the Aussies filled their boots with Usman Khawaja (144), captain Steve Smith (134 not out) Joe Burns (128), and Voges (106 not out) guiding Australia to 3/551 declared. Shaun Marsh was left out for Khawaja despite his 182 in Hobart. By stumps the West Indies were 6/91. Ducks for Marlon Samuels, Denesh Ramden and captain Jason Holder seemed to reflect the Windies’ poor attitude.
The West Indies finally showed some fight on the third morning. Bravo (81) and Carlos Braithwaite (59) complied 90 for the seventh wicket, broken on the stroke of lunch by Nathan Lyon. The West Indies were eventually dismissed for 271 in 100.3 overs, adding a crucial 180 runs in nearly 60 overs, with Lyon (4/66) and Pattinson (4/72) taking eight wickets between them. While they still trailed by 280, Australia chose to bat again, a moral win for the visitors.
Smith (70 not out) and Khawaja (56) pushed Australia’s advantage to 459 by the third evening, allowing an overnight declaration.
Nobody expected the West Indies to get near the target, but they nearly batted out Day 4, lasting 88.3 overs for 282. Pleasingly, the top seven all got starts, with Holder (68) and Ramdin (59) top-scoring. Mitch Marsh (4/61) continued his improvement with the ball, while Lyon’s 3/85 gave him 7/151 for the match. For an inexperienced attack, having to graft for their wickets arguably did more good than the Hobart snooze.
The West Indies had the better of the SCG draw. Kraigg Brathwaite (85), Carlos Brathwaite (69) and Ramdin (62) scored half centuries as the West Indies made 330. Rain meant their innings was spread over five days, with days three and four washed out. Steve O’Keefe (3/63) and Lyon (3/120) justified the inclusion of two spinners. David Warner finished the game with 122 not out off 103 balls as Australia declared at 2/176.
It’s virtually guaranteed that the West Indies will never play in Melbourne and Sydney again.
They’ll be pushed back to pre-Christmas Tests or winter/spring Tests in Cairns, Townsville and Darwin.
The West Indies’ best have more incentive to play the various Twenty20 tournaments. Can you blame them? The West Indies are ranked second in the ICC Twenty20 Championship, so it makes sense for their best players to focus on Twenty20 and have a greater chance of success, both personally and financially.
If the West Indies’ best players can’t be lured back to Test cricket, what hope do they have in the longest form?
After the fallout from the Ashes and the cancelled Bangladesh tour, the New Zealand and West Indies Tests solved a few problems for Australia. Khawaja and Burns filled the breach left by the retirements of Michael Clarke and Chris Rogers, Steve Smith settled into the captaincy and scored runs, while Mitch Marsh continued to establish himself as a bowling all-rounder.
The bowlers had to deal with Mitchell Starc’s injury and Mitchell Johnson’s retirement but Josh Hazlewood and James Pattinson carried the load. O’ Keefe proved a valuable understudy to Lyon with Fawad Ahmed seemingly out of favour.
Australia will face tougher opposition next summer, with South Africa and Pakistan touring for seven Tests in 2016-17.
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