Following West Indies: Former Australia fast-bowler Rodney Hogg said he was glad the West Indies used his comments of them being ‘hopeless and pathetic’ as inspiration for securing a magical eight-run win at the Gabba.
Following West Indies’ ten-wicket loss to Australia in Adelaide, Hogg made headlines after his description of the visitors’ and further said he gave them no chance of competing in Brisbane.
Hogg’s comments were proven wrong as fast-bowler Shamar Joseph brushed aside his toe injury and took a magnificent seven-wicket haul to give West Indies’ an unlikely victory over current World Test Championship holders Australia at The Gabba.
“When I looked at the West Indies in that first innings in this second Test, I was having a look here and I’m thinking to myself, ‘How good was my prediction?’. They were 5/65 and Starc had three wickets … it was looking like a dead set two-and-a-half-day game.
“What an amazing performance, it was fantastic to see them given an opportunity to play a second Test match against Australia. The fact that they were up at the Gabba, some of them had never played in a day-night game before. There’s a pink ball. They’re in front of 30,000 or 40,000 people. It’s a different experience,” said Hogg to sen.com.au.
After the win at the Gabba, West Indies captain Kraigg Braithwaite flexed his muscles and even asked Hogg whether his muscles were big enough for him. “I must say we had two words that inspired us in this Test match. Mr Rodney Hogg said we were ‘pathetic’ and ‘hopeless’, so that source was our inspiration. We wanted to show the world we’re not pathetic. And I must ask him: Are these muscles big enough for him?” Braithwaite said.
Though Hogg was dished out a humble pie following the West Indies triumph in the second Test, he felt the visitors’ got better as the two-match series progressed. “Well, apparently, I’ve reinvented West Indies Test cricket. They were hopeless before I made those comments and they’ve, they’ve all jumped up and been motivated to play well.
“They came here with six guys that didn’t have a Test cap and they were so inexperienced, and you sort of thought, ‘Well, they are a bunch of hopeless players’, but give them some game time a few of them showed, some real ability, didn’t they? The better that the longer the two games went on, the better they got.”
The West Indies will now play a three-match ODI series against Australia, starting at the Melbourne Cricket Ground on Friday.
