Starc Confident Bowlers Will Keep Dominance on Day Three

Mitchell Starc believes the unpredictable surface at Kensington Oval will remain challenging for batters as Australia look to build a substantial lead over West Indies and avoid consecutive Test defeats for the first time since 1999.

Earlier this month at Lord’s, Australia and South Africa had traded low scores before the pitch flattened out dramatically on the third day under bright sunshine. That shift allowed Starc to make a half-century and saw South Africa’s Aiden Markram and Temba Bavuma secure a record chase.

But in Barbados, Starc doesn’t expect similar batting-friendly conditions to emerge. Australia ended the second day with Travis Head and Beau Webster at the crease, holding an 82-run lead.

Hoping for Lower-Order Runs to Extend the Lead

Starc added that Australia would look to push the lead further through Head and Webster, as well as contributions from the tail.

“𝑻𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒆 𝒘𝒂𝒔 𝒂 𝒍𝒊𝒕𝒕𝒍𝒆 𝒃𝒊𝒕 𝒐𝒇 𝒂 𝒑𝒂𝒓𝒕𝒏𝒆𝒓𝒔𝒉𝒊𝒑 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒆 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝑩𝒆𝒂𝒖 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝑻𝒓𝒂𝒗 [27 𝒔𝒐 𝒇𝒂𝒓] 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒆 𝒂𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒆𝒏𝒅, 𝒔𝒐 𝒉𝒐𝒑𝒆𝒇𝒖𝒍𝒍𝒚 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒄𝒂𝒏 𝒄𝒐𝒏𝒕𝒊𝒏𝒖𝒆 𝒊𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒎𝒐𝒓𝒏𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒏 𝒑𝒖𝒔𝒉 𝒊𝒕 𝒂𝒔 𝒇𝒂𝒓 𝒂𝒔 𝒘𝒆 𝒄𝒂𝒏 [𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉] 𝒔𝒐𝒎𝒆 𝒍𝒐𝒘𝒆𝒓-𝒐𝒓𝒅𝒆𝒓 𝒓𝒖𝒏𝒔 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒏 𝒈𝒐 𝒇𝒓𝒐𝒎 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒆,” 𝒉𝒆 𝒔𝒂𝒊𝒅. “𝑰 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒌 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒆’𝒔 𝒆𝒏𝒐𝒖𝒈𝒉 𝒄𝒉𝒂𝒏𝒄𝒆𝒔 [𝒃𝒆𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒄𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒕𝒆𝒅] 𝒂𝒔 𝒘𝒆’𝒗𝒆 𝒔𝒆𝒆𝒏 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒍𝒂𝒔𝒕 𝒕𝒘𝒐 𝒅𝒂𝒚𝒔, 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒚𝒐𝒖’𝒓𝒆 𝒏𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒓 𝒒𝒖𝒊𝒕𝒆 𝒊𝒏 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒏𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒓 𝒌𝒏𝒐𝒘 𝒘𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒕𝒐𝒕𝒂𝒍 𝒊𝒔 𝒈𝒐𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒕𝒐 𝒃𝒆 𝒆𝒏𝒐𝒖𝒈𝒉.”

Sammy Jokes About Small Targets, But Frustration Lingers

When asked about what West Indies would consider a manageable chase, head coach Daren Sammy replied with dry humour:

“𝑰 𝒘𝒐𝒖𝒍𝒅 𝒍𝒐𝒗𝒆 𝒕𝒐 𝒄𝒉𝒂𝒔𝒆 82. 𝑺𝒐𝒎𝒆𝒃𝒐𝒅𝒚 𝒈𝒆𝒕 𝒂 𝒅𝒐𝒖𝒃𝒍𝒆-𝒉𝒂𝒕-𝒕𝒓𝒊𝒄𝒌 𝒐𝒓 𝒔𝒐𝒎𝒆𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒈.”

Behind the humour, though, was evident irritation over both umpiring decisions and sloppy fielding. The West Indies dropped Sam Konstas twice on zero, adding to a total of six missed chances in the match—five of which came off Shamar Joseph’s bowling.

Fielding Standards a Major Concern for West Indies

Sammy admitted that fielding errors are undermining the team’s progress and emphasized the need to treat catching as a critical skill.

“𝑷𝒓𝒆𝒕𝒕𝒚 𝒔𝒖𝒓𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒚 𝒂𝒓𝒆 𝒈𝒐𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒕𝒐 𝒈𝒆𝒕 𝒂 𝒏𝒊𝒄𝒆 𝒃𝒐𝒍𝒍𝒐𝒄𝒌𝒊𝒏𝒈. 𝑵𝒐𝒕 𝒕𝒐𝒐 𝒂𝒏𝒈𝒓𝒚, 𝒃𝒖𝒕 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒔𝒖𝒓𝒆, 𝒊𝒕’𝒔 𝒂𝒏 𝒂𝒕𝒕𝒊𝒕𝒖𝒅𝒆,” 𝒉𝒆 𝒔𝒂𝒊𝒅. “𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝒔𝒂𝒎𝒆 𝒘𝒂𝒚 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒑𝒓𝒂𝒄𝒕𝒊𝒄𝒆 𝒚𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒃𝒂𝒕𝒕𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒚𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒃𝒐𝒘𝒍𝒊𝒏𝒈, 𝒇𝒊𝒆𝒍𝒅𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒄𝒂𝒕𝒄𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒃𝒆𝒄𝒐𝒎𝒆𝒔 𝒆𝒒𝒖𝒂𝒍𝒍𝒚 𝒊𝒎𝒑𝒐𝒓𝒕𝒂𝒏𝒕. 𝑪𝒂𝒕𝒄𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒂𝒕 𝒔𝒍𝒊𝒑 𝒊𝒔 𝒂 𝒔𝒌𝒊𝒍𝒍. 𝑨𝒔 𝒔𝒐𝒎𝒆𝒃𝒐𝒅𝒚 𝒘𝒉𝒐 𝒇𝒊𝒆𝒍𝒅𝒆𝒅 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒆, 𝒊𝒕’𝒔 𝒂 𝒔𝒌𝒊𝒍𝒍 𝒘𝒆 𝒄𝒐𝒏𝒔𝒕𝒂𝒏𝒕𝒍𝒚 𝒉𝒂𝒗𝒆 𝒕𝒐 𝒘𝒐𝒓𝒌 𝒐𝒏, 𝒑𝒖𝒕𝒕𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒕𝒊𝒎𝒆 𝒊𝒏 𝒊𝒕.”

He added that good sides punish those mistakes:

“𝑮𝒐𝒐𝒅 𝒕𝒆𝒂𝒎𝒔 𝒘𝒊𝒍𝒍 𝒎𝒂𝒌𝒆 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒑𝒂𝒚. 𝑺𝒐 𝒇𝒂𝒓, 𝒊𝒕’𝒔 𝒏𝒐𝒕 𝒃𝒆𝒆𝒏 𝒕𝒐𝒐 𝒄𝒐𝒔𝒕𝒍𝒚, 𝒃𝒖𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒊𝒔 𝒔𝒐𝒎𝒆𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒊𝒏 𝒐𝒓𝒅𝒆𝒓 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒖𝒔 𝒕𝒐 𝒊𝒎𝒑𝒓𝒐𝒗𝒆 𝒐𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒈𝒐𝒂𝒍𝒔 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒘𝒆 𝒉𝒂𝒗𝒆 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒕𝒆𝒂𝒎, 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒊𝒔 𝒈𝒐𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒕𝒐 𝒄𝒐𝒏𝒕𝒊𝒏𝒖𝒆. 𝑶𝒖𝒓 𝒄𝒂𝒕𝒄𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒆𝒇𝒇𝒊𝒄𝒊𝒆𝒏𝒄𝒚 𝒉𝒂𝒔 𝒕𝒐 𝒈𝒐 𝒖𝒑.”

Konstas Struggles Against Shamar Joseph’s Accuracy

Despite those let-offs, Shamar Joseph has already had a big impact on Konstas’ series. The young batter has only managed scores of 3 and 5, with the second innings particularly uncomfortable.

“𝑰 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒌 𝒉𝒆 𝒉𝒂𝒅 𝒕𝒉𝒓𝒆𝒆 𝒄𝒉𝒂𝒏𝒄𝒆𝒔 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒔𝒕𝒊𝒍𝒍 𝒔𝒄𝒐𝒓𝒆𝒅 𝒇𝒊𝒗𝒆,” 𝑺𝒂𝒎𝒎𝒚 𝒔𝒂𝒊𝒅. “𝑪𝒓𝒆𝒅𝒊𝒕 𝒕𝒐 𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒃𝒐𝒚𝒔. 𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝒑𝒍𝒂𝒏𝒔 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒘𝒆 𝒉𝒂𝒅 𝒂𝒈𝒂𝒊𝒏𝒔𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒊𝒓 𝒕𝒐𝒑 𝒐𝒓𝒅𝒆𝒓 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒂𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒔 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒈𝒖𝒚𝒔 𝒃𝒐𝒘𝒍𝒆𝒅 𝒂𝒕 𝒉𝒊𝒎, 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒚 𝒎𝒂𝒅𝒆 𝒊𝒕 𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒚 𝒅𝒊𝒇𝒇𝒊𝒄𝒖𝒍𝒕. 𝑲𝒖𝒅𝒐𝒔 𝒕𝒐 𝑺𝒉𝒂𝒎𝒂𝒓, [𝒃𝒆𝒄𝒂𝒖𝒔𝒆] 𝒃𝒆𝒇𝒐𝒓𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝑻𝒆𝒔𝒕 𝒔𝒕𝒂𝒓𝒕𝒆𝒅, 𝒉𝒆 𝒅𝒊𝒅 𝒔𝒂𝒚 𝒉𝒆’𝒔 𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒅𝒚 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝑲𝒐𝒏𝒔𝒕𝒂𝒔 𝒘𝒉𝒆𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒚 𝒂𝒔𝒌𝒆𝒅 𝒂𝒃𝒐𝒖𝒕 𝒉𝒊𝒎.”

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