Adelaide. Australia, performing tremendously, crushed the West Indies by a huge margin of 419 runs in the second Test match on Sunday to clean sweep the series 2–0 and in the next Test match. Moved towards the ICC World Test Championship Final to be held this year. Australia set a target of 497 runs in front of the West Indies and completed the formalities of victory by including the Windies for 77 runs in 40.5 overs on the fourth day itself. For Australia, Mitchell Starc, Michael Neiser and Scott Boland took three wickets each to force the Windies to suffer a humiliating defeat.
Travis Head was declared Player of the Match and Marnus Labushen was declared Player of the Series. The series win meant that Australia moved further up the table in the World Test Championship. Australia’s winning percentage in the current period has gone up to 75. Pat Cummins’s team can further increase its percentage in the team table. It is to host South Africa for a three-Test series later this week. After this, in February-March, he has to visit India for a four-Test series, which will decide the two teams for the final next year.
Cummins himself was not part of the devastating win against the Windies but is expected to be fit and take over Australia’s captaincy for the first Test against South Africa at the Gabba from Saturday. Pacer Josh Hazlewood is doubtful for the game due to a side strain, while Scott Boland and Neeser can take advantage of their impressive performances and retain their places in the XI.
The series was disappointing for the West Indies and with two consecutive defeats they were out of contention for the finals of the Test Championship table. Windies’ 77 in their second innings is their lowest score in Test history in Australia and second lowest overall against Australia. This is Windies’ biggest defeat in Test matches in terms of runs. They are seventh overall in the table behind England on the basis of 40.91 win percentage.
