Top 3 talking points from Australia vs West Indies Test series

After more than just one year, Australia hosted West Indies for a two-match Test series. Even though the series might not be as lucrative in terms of finance for Cricket Australia, they needed to honor the World Test Championship (WTC) 2023-25 commitments. In the last home season, the Aussies played the same number of Tests against their former rivals.

In the last series, the Caribbeans showed resistance in patches, especially with the bat in the first Test in Perth, chasing 498, the visitors managed 333 all-out. Even though they lost the series 2-0, the Aussies were challenged for the first time after 2003 by the West Indies. 

Top 3 talking points from Australia vs West Indies Test series

1. West Indies bowled much better than the last series

In the previous series between both teams, the Northern Americans didn’t make the most of the Aussie conditions. In both games, they were hit for big runs. As opposed to that, the visitors, this time around, didn’t let the World Test Championship winner even go past 300 runs across both games.

In the first Test, despite being bowled out for 188, they managed to bowl out Australia for 283. They could have bowled out the Aussies for a much lesser score only if they had managed to get Travis Head out early. In the second Test, they managed to keep themselves in the game and win because of their bowling.

2. Becoming the first team to beat  Australia in the Pink Ball Test

Since the Aussies started playing a Pink Ball Test (or a Day-Night Test) in 2015, only New Zealand came close to beating them. Meanwhile, during the game, despite being counter-attacked and a dismissal not going their way, the team didn’t seem to have given up.

3. Was Australia tired after a long cricket season?

Including the ODI World Cup winning campaign, Australia didn’t have enough time to rest. Right after winning their sixth title, the team played another series against India albeit with a second-string squad. 

Meanwhile, at home, they played three Tests against Pakistan and two against the West Indies without much time to turn around. It seemed that during the second Test, the home team looked a bit tired and maybe, they had complacency creeping in which led to them losing the game.