It takes 15 overs of play for the crowd not to receive a refund, and were it up to Josh Hazlewood, it would have been a free morning of entertainment.
The Aussie quick was unplayable late yesterday evening, ensuring that it would be a short day’s play on Day Three, then continued that with a picture-perfect delivery to remove Gudakesh Motie to earn himself a richly deserved five-for.
Prior to that, Joshua Da Silva and Alzarri Joseph had fallen to Mitchell Starc – the wicketkeeper, in particular, would be angered by another catch in the deep while hooking – to raise the potential of an innings victory.
A minor rearguard action from the West Indies took the total into the black and at least forced Australia to bat again for their win, with Shamar Joseph again the pick.
Where everyone else in maroon struggled to handle Hazlewood, the fearless debutant took him apart with a series of aggressive shots before Nathan Lyon had him stumped attempting one hoick too many.
It would be hard to ignore the Aussie bowler or yesterday’s centurion, Travis Head, for player of the match, but Joseph ran them as close as any player in a comfortably defeated side could.
26 was never going to be a difficult chase, and Australia made light work of it, running the total down in seven overs.
The only scare was a wicked bouncer from Shamar that caught Usman Khawaja directly on the jaw, drawing blood from the opener and forcing him to retire hurt with scores level.
Marnus Labuschagne might not have expected to come in, but took a sighter and pulled the next to square leg to confirm the result.
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