Gabba brisbane

Big Bash League: Australia men’s head coach Andrew McDonald believes his batters struggled against debutant Shamar Joseph in the series opener at Adelaide Oval due to them facing the fast-bowler for the first time. He added that facing Joseph won’t be an issue going into the second Test in Brisbane after having a good-enough look of him at Adelaide.

Joseph became just the 14th player in the history of Tests, and the first from the West Indies, to take a five-wicket haul on debut, by recording figures of 5/94, including taking Steve Smith out on his first ball in the format. With the bat, he made 36 and 15 as a number eleven batter in both innings of West Indies’ batting, thus becoming a bright spot for the hosts’ despite suffering a ten-wicket defeat.

“I think there’s an element with, in particular, Joseph… sight unseen is always difficult for batters, when you haven’t seen someone and got used to their rhythm and the cues that they present, sometimes you do get drawn into shots.”