Shamar Joseph, a young pace phenom, made history in his international cricket debut by taking a wicket with his first ball delivered in the match. On Wednesday, January 17, at the Adelaide Oval in Adelaide, the right-arm fast-medium bowler achieved this feat on the first day of the first Test match between Australia and the West Indies.
In the ninth over of the second innings, he executed a first strike for the team captained by Kraigg Brathwaite, dismissing notable batsman Steven Smith, who was starting for Australia for the first time in his illustrious Test career. The Guyanese cricket player, 24, struck the deck forcefully and managed to keep the length outside off. Smith moved across to block it as he normally would have, but he gained an outside edge to the left of the third slip, where rookie Justin Greaves dived forward to complete a diving catch.
In the history of men’s Test cricket, Shamar Joseph is only the 23rd bowler to take a wicket with his opening delivery.
He is remarkably the second West Indian cricketer after Tyrell Johnson, who set a record against England at The Oval in 1939. Furthermore, after being placed to bat first, Shamar Joseph had already made a good impact by hitting 36 (41) in a 55-run last-wicket combination with Kemar Roach.
Born into the small Guyana community of Baracara, Joseph made his debut as one of three debutants in the West Indies Test team, along with Greaves and Kavem Hodge. After a standout showing during West Indies A’s tour of South Africa, when he claimed a career-high 12 wickets, he was awarded the spot.
Australia’s deficit after Day 1 stumps is 129.
On the first day of the first Test, world champions Australia performed flawlessly against the West Indies, who are ranked seventh. The pace assault was spearheaded by right-armer Josh Hazlewood and captain Pat Cummins, who each took four wickets. With a fifty-four off just 94 deliveries, Kirk McKenzie was the only player to defend the Windies.
However, Shamar Joseph dismissed Steven Smith for a below-par 12 runs after he failed to deliver a bomb in his maiden over as an opener. In the fifteenth over, Joseph took Marnus Labuschagne for his second wicket. After Day 1 Stumps, Australia, captained by Pat Cummins, are at 59/2. With Usman Khawaja (30*) and new No. 4 Cameron Green (6*) at the wicket, they are currently behind by 129 runs.
India
