Two Memorable Tests and Two Young Matchwinners: Joseph and Hartley!

Shamar Joseph, 7/68

We have been treated to two nail-biting test matches on the same day (yesterday being the fourth day of each), the 27^th of January 2024, which is, to say the least, is terrific news for the future of Test Cricket, coming right after the two-day humdinger between India and South Africa in Cape Town. In both the Tests the host nations, Australia and India respectively, lost to the visitors on the day as mentioned, largely thanks to the captivating bowling performances of two young bowlers—fast bowler Shamar Joseph for the West Indies and orthodox spinner Tom Hartley for England. While Joseph was playing only his second Test, Hartley made his Test debut; both of the age of around 24, being born in 1999. Both of them captured 7 wickets each on the fourth day as the host nations were chasing the targets set. The Australia-West Indies test match was the second and last of the two-match Series played in Brisbane with the Aussies leading 1-0 while the India-England match was the first of the five-match Test Series in Hyderabad. In both the matches the first three days witnessed ups and downs. Electing to bat first at the Gabba the West Indies batted fairly well putting up 311 runs in the first innings with Starc and Hazlewood capturing six scalps; Australia replied with 289/9 conceding a marginal lead, thanks to Alzarri Joseph and Roach taking 7 of the wickets; known for their historical batting collapses the West Indies fell for just 193/9 in the second innings, setting a moderate target of 216 runs for the Aussies to get. As a further setback for the visitors Shamar Joseph got injured while batting after Tea on the third day; while no fracture was detected in his toe he was in great pain and was nearly ruled out for the fourth day.

Australia resumed batting at overnight 60/2 on the fourth day and seemed to be cruising at 113/2, needing just 103 runs to get with Steve Smith in full command and 8 wickets standing. And in came the limping Shamar Joseph and created history. Despite his injury he bowled mightily, reaching 150km per hour. Immediately he uprooted the stumps of a set Cameron Green for 42, then he clean bowled Travis Head for a duck, and then Marsh, Carey, Starc and Cummins on the trot. After Alzarri Joseph captured the 9^th Aussie wicket in the form of Lyon, Shamar crafted a historic win for his nation by dislodging the stumps of Hazlewood as Smith remained not out at 91, unable to force the winning runs. The West Indies won by 8 runs and delivered another Gabba defeat to the mighty hosts since India did to them in 2021. This is also a tremendous boost for a struggling cricket-nation, the West Indies, to stage a revival. Matchwinner Shamar Joseph ended the Series with a total of 13 wickets, helping his team to share equal Series honors with the hosts.

Tom Hartley, 7/62

The fourth-day drama, meanwhile, continued in Hyderabad as India started chasing the rather tricky target of 231 runs, set by England who defied the Indian spinners in the second innings to amass 420 runs, thus overcoming a huge deficit of 190 runs. Electing to bat first England made only 246 thanks mainly to the Indian spinner trio—Ashwin, Jadeja and Patel. India replied majestically with 436 runs. In fact, the hosts enjoyed the upper-hand and were in command of the match throughout the first three days. The morning session of the fourth day changed that with the England sheet-anchor Ollie Pope going on rollicking to amass 196 invaluable runs and also managing to get good contributions from the tail-enders including a sound 34 by Tom Hartley. In view of the fact that the pitch was deteriorating with the ball turning, bouncing and yet keeping low, the failure of the Indian spinners to utilize it fully was a bit perplexing, and this gave some sort of hope too for the Indian chase of 231 runs with the home crowds roaring in support. Besides, the England bowling was not much to write home about—Hartley punished heavily in the first innings, Wood and Leach not remarkably effective and only Root was showing some spin promise. However, the England spinners had different ideas this time around and were raring to go, Hartley in particular.

Joe Root opened the bowling attack as his spin was quite impressive in the first innings. Since the first over, the Indian batsmen, the supposed masters of spin, got hooked and intrigued, unable to take advantage against any of the spinners. After a relatively good start of 42 runs with Rohit stroking well the phenomenon of Tom Hartley emerged on the scene. First, he had Jaiswal (15) caught behind by Pope and then he consumed India’s expected mainstay Shubman Gill for a duck, reducing India to 42/2 now. Rohit fell next at 39 to Hartley and India at 69/3. Root then joined the show and captured the prize scalp of KL Rahul (22) while Hartley took Patel at India 107/5. The run-out of Jadeja, arguably the best fielder of the team, was a disaster for India and Leach made it worse by taking the scalp of the last recognized Indian batsman Shreya Iyer. India were tottering at 119/7 then, and it was all but over. Hartley proved consistently heartless for India as he cut short the growing partnership between Bharat and Ashwin, the last hope for the frustrated fans, by consuming both of them. Nine down now, Mohammed Siraj suddenly enlivened up the fans by making a few lusty shots around. Hartley ended that too having his 7^th catch in form of Siraj. England won by 28 runs as India folded up at 202 runs—a sensational win beating India in India and being the first visiting team to reverse a deficit of 190 or more.

Under the aggressive captaincy of Ben Stokes and with his team leading 1-0, the five-match Test Series is set to be gripping and absorbing. The next Test starts from 2^nd February in Visakhapatnam. In the remaining Tests too, there are no big metro cities like Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai or Bengaluru as venues, and this, I think, further heightens the unpredictability and excitement of the Series. It could be anybody’s game in Visakhapatnam, Rajkot, Ranchi or in Dharmsala. Again, good for Test Cricket. More than hundred thousand people enjoyed the match at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium in Hyderabad.