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With an eye on the two games that are scheduled in New
Zealand, Pat Cummins sees the 2023–24 season as a seven-Test summer. However,
their home stretch will come to an end this week in Brisbane. As cruel as it
seems, the weather might be the biggest hindrance to them finishing with a 5-0
victory.
Though even the loss of a day or more of playing time
wouldn’t rule out the possibility of a result, the outlook for the weekend is
now one of increasing amounts of rain.
The other aspect at play is that Australia could lose
out on World Test Championship [WTC] points if the match ends in a tie if the
weather turns out to be a significant influence. Naturally, you don’t want to
write off the visitors, but in order to force a victory, they would have to
play poorly.
Nevertheless, the West Indies were maintaining an even
keel halfway through the second day of the Adelaide Test, mostly because to the
performances of rookies Shamar Joseph and Justin Greaves. Australia was still
down at 168 for 6, but Travis Head’s increasingly aggressive century—having
recovered from Covid-19—turned the tide of play.
How the West Indies can muster enough runs is their
main issue. Though they need more from skipper Kraigg Brathwaite and a comeback
from Tagenarine Chanderpaul, Kirk McKenzie showed promise.
It’s all relative, but with only two centuries in four
Test matches this season, Australia’s batting is currently receiving some extra
attention. In the end, they have scored enough runs to win, frequently with
ease, but Usman Khawaja, Steven Smith, and Marnus Labuschagne are about to
finish their domestic season without any Test hundreds between them.