SYDNEY: Skipper Kraigg Brathwaite credited injured pride for West Indies’ extraordinary upset of Australia in Brisbane on Sunday and said the Caribbean islanders needed more test cricket if they were to continue their revival.
West Indies were once the most feared team in the test game but expectations have lowered over years of decline, and Brathwaite’s touring squad were given little chance of success when they arrived in Australia to play the World Test Championship winners.
Those expectations were lowered still after a 10-wicket mauling in the first test in Adelaide but, spearheaded by young quick Shamar Joseph, they staged a remarkable turnaround to beat their hosts by eight runs in a Gabba thriller on Sunday.
Brathwaite said comments by former Australian pace bowler Rodney Hogg had cut particularly deep.
“Rodney Hogg said we were pathetic and hopeless, so that was our motivation. I want to ask him: ‘Are these muscles big enough for you?'” he retorted in the post-match ceremony on Sunday. (Reuters)
