GRENADA TEST
Starc and Lyon shared six wickets in the final innings of the Test © AFP
Australia put on a ruthless display on the fourth day in Grenada to make light work of the West Indies and clinch the Test series. Resuming at 221/7, Australia added just 22 more runs to their overnight score but that was more than enough as Mitchell Starc and Josh Hazlewood ran through the West Indies top order to set up a 133-run win that gave them an unassailable 2-0 lead in the series.
Shamar Joseph struck with the second ball of the day when Pat Cummins poked one behind. The impressive Alex Carey was the next to depart as Shamar struck again, to trap him leg-before-wicket before Alzarri Joseph ended the Australian innings by cleaning up Josh Hazlewood. While the hosts got the job done without breaking a sweat on the fourth morning, they were still set a challenging target on a surface that was keeping low.
It took Australia literally just eight balls to strike when Josh Hazlewood bowled a nip-backer to trap John Campbell lbw. Starc opened his account when Keacy Carter edged one behind to Carey. Brandon King once again made an impressive start, finding the boundary thrice immediately after coming out to bat, but Kraigg Brathwaite was sent packing by Beau Webster off an outside edge.
A scoreline of 29/3 soon became 33/4 as Cummins bagged the big wicket of King with a top delivery that hit the off stump. Post lunch, Shai Hope and Roston Chase realised the need for runs and struck a few boundaries but Hazlewood changed ends and broke the partnership by getting rid of the wicketkeeper-batter. With Chase departing four overs later, the writing was pretty much on the wall for the hosts. Alzarri, Shamar and Jayden Seales shared six sixes between them but it barely managed to reduce the margin of defeat as Nathan Lyon dismissed all three to put West Indies out of their misery inside 35 overs.
Brief scores: Australia 286 (Alex Carey 63; Alzarri Joseph 4/61) & 243 (Steve Smith 71; Shamar Joseph 4/66) beat West Indies 253 (Brandon King 75; Nathan Lyon 3/75) & 143 (Roston Chase 34; Mitchell Starc 3/24) by 133 runs
© Cricbuzz
