What happened at Sabina Park today might take a while to sink in.
In one of the wildest days in Test cricket history, Australia bowled out the West Indies for just 27 runs in their second innings, wrapping up a 176-run win and a 3–0 series whitewash.
Their total was just a single run higher than the lowest score in an innings in Test history and the lowest West Indies total ever by 20 runs.
The spectacular downfall was orchestrated by Mitchell Starc, playing in his 100th Test.
He grabbed 6 for 9 and picked up a five-wicket haul in just 15 balls – the fastest in Test history, breaking the previous record of 19 deliveries.
He ripped through the top order like a hurricane, with the scalp of Mikyle Louis marking his 400th Test wicket.
Pat Cummins summed it up best: "That's the Starc we know. Tear an opposition apart, win you a game."
Just when West Indies thought it couldn't get worse, Scott Boland arrived with a thunderbolt of his own.
In only his second over, he bagged a hat-trick – removing Greaves, Shamar Joseph, and Warrican – becoming the 10th Australian to do so in Tests, and the first since 2010.
He finished with a ridiculous 3 for 2.
A Collapse for the Ages
Let's talk numbers, because this was no ordinary collapse:
• 27 all out: The second-lowest innings total, only behind New Zealand's 26 in 1955. Also, the West Indies' lowest-ever innings total.
• 7 ducks in one innings – a new record
• Top six batters scored just 6 runs combined
• The entire innings lasted only 14.3 overs
• The whole Test match saw just 1,045 balls bowled, the lowest in any 4-innings Test since 1910
Earlier, West Indies had actually bowled Australia out for 121, their lowest total in 30 years. Alzarri Joseph (5 for 27) and Shamar Joseph (4 for 34) had done the damage, but that would soon be forgotten.
With the series already in hand, Australia made it a clean 3–0 sweep of the Frank Worrell Trophy.
Starc took home both player of the match and player of the series awards, and rightfully so. No centuries were scored in the entire series, but Australia's pace attack was simply too hot to handle.
West Indies captain Roston Chase didn't sugarcoat it. He called the collapse "embarrassing." And honestly, who could argue?
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