With the T20 World Cup on the horizon, West Indies fast bowler Alzarri Joseph has vowed to keep putting in the hard yards, following a narrow 3-wicket loss to Australia in a practice match on Wednesday.
In an encounter marred by messy fielding from the Caribbean team, Matthew Wade and Mitchell Starc got the Aussies over the line, with a ball remaining, but the last over, bowled by paCer Sheldon Cottrell, was one filled with drama. Needing just 11 from the last 6, Wade was dropped in the deep by Raymon Reifer off the second ball and an opportunity to stump Starc on his way back for the winning run was also missed out on.
As a result, the Aussies got home at 146 for 7, surpassing the West Indies' first innings tally of 145 for 9. Aussie captain Aaron Finch batted in the unfamiliar position of 4 but top-scored with a valuable 58. A visibly disgruntled Cottrell ended with figures of 2 for 49, while Joseph ended with a tidy 2 for 17 and 7 runs with the bat. The bowler would admittedly have preferred a win but took some solace in a decent outing with the ball.
“For me, it’s always about trying to add that one percent every day. Keep on trusting the process, keep on training hard and keep doing what I need to do to get the success,” Joseph said following the match.
“It wasn’t the result we wanted but we really fought hard. We pushed Australia down to the last over, so all in all it was a fairly good performance we just have to go back and see what we can improve for the next game,” he added.
In their turn at the crease, all-rounder Kyle-Mayers led the way for the West Indies at the top of the order, scoring 39 from 36 deliveries before his innings was ended by Pat Cummings. Reifer contributed a 23-ball 19 from the middle order but no other batsman really got going until Odean Smith’s useful 27 from 17 at the back of the innings. He was run out by Wade.
It was, however, Josh Hazelwood who did the most damage with the ball for the Aussies as he ended with 3 for 35, while Starc and Cummings each claimed two wickets.