Injured Australia captain Pat Cummins may need to decide between bowling for victory in the first Test at Perth Stadium on Sunday or saving himself for the Adelaide Test, beginning on Thursday.
Australia still need seven wickets to beat the West Indies on the final day and coach Andrew McDonald believes Cummins will be able to bowl.
West Indies captain Kraigg Brathwaite scored a determined, unbeaten 101, his 11th century in Test cricket, once again proving the major stumbling block. They went to stumps at 3-192, needing a further 306 for the most improbable of victories.
Cummins declared on 2-182 at lunch with Marnus Labuschagne unbeaten on 104 to follow his 204 in the first innings, setting an historically impossible 498 from 154 overs for victory.
In Cummins’ absence Mitchell Starc, Josh Hazlewood, Nathan Lyon, Cameron Green and even a couple of overs of lively medium pace from usual part-time leg-spinner Labuschagne were unable to claim a wicket between them during the second session.
Cummins returned to the field at the fall of Chanderpaul’s wicket, bowled chopping the ball into his stumps off Starc for 45 during the last session.
Kraigg Brathwaite raises his bat after posting a century on day four.Credit:Getty
Cricket Australia released a statement at lunch confirming vice-captain Steve Smith would take charge on the field.
“Pat Cummins is experiencing some mild right sided quadricep soreness. He will continue to be monitored by team medical staff and his availability to bowl in the second innings will be assessed on an ongoing basis,” the statement said.
Australia’s path to victory was not helped by once again failing to make an early breakthrough against the determined West Indian opening pair of Brathwaite and Chanderpaul.
Starc eventually broke the 116-run partnership, which soaked up 36.3 overs. Nathan Lyon claimed the next two wickets. Substitute first drop Shamarh Brooks, covering for concussed Nkrumah Bonner, was well caught at slip by Steve Smith for 11, and late in the day the irrepressible Labuschagne at short leg snaffled a catch to remove Jermaine Blackwood for 24.
The Australians thought they had Blackwood before he had scored, lbw to Hazlewood, but a review showed the ball was clearing the stumps.
The Australians had similar problems making early inroads during the West Indies’ first innings. Brathwaite and Chanderpaul hung together for 26 overs until Chanderpaul was dismissed for 51 during the first over of the third day. Even then West Indies made it to 1/159 from 54.2 overs, with Brathwaite using up 166 balls making 64, before he was bowled by the ball of the match from Cummins, leaving the right-hander and hitting the top of off stump to breach the dam wall.
In the circumstances Cameron Green has rarely proved a more handy gadget. The tall all-rounder, who can bowl at more than 140km/h, is usually Australia’s bonus bowler but on Saturday he was a front-line part of the attack.
Delivering the 19th over with the score 0-43, Green once again generated an enthusiastic cheer from the small but involved crowd as the only West Australian in the team.
With five Tests inside seven weeks against the West Indies and South Africa, followed next year by Test tours of India and England and the 50-over World Cup in India, Australia’s bowlers will be managed for the long haul.
Australia used six fast bowlers in the Ashes last summer, with the most unusual absentee Cummins during the second Test in Adelaide when he was ruled out under strict Covid protocols for entering a restaurant where a patron was found to be infected.
With Hazlewood already ruled out for the Test, and subsequently the Ashes series, after breaking down with a side strain in Brisbane, Australia made two changes for Adelaide, bring in Jhye Richardson and Michael Neser, who debuted.
For the third Test in Melbourne Cummins returned, Richardson was “managed”, Neser was dropped, and Victorian Scott Boland came in to make his debut on Boxing Day.
Boland, 34, became an instant legend, claiming 6/7 in the second innings as England capitulated, handing Australia victory at lunch on the third day. He played the last three Tests of the Ashes series, finishing with 18 wickets at the remarkable average of 9.55, but has not played again despite being a member of the extended squad.
