West Indies Collapse to Historic Low Against Australia

Day 3 of the third Test match between Australia and West Indies in Jamaica will go down in the folklore of cricketing history as the visitors delivered one of the most staggering performances in the history of Test cricket against the hosts.

Tasked with defending 204 runs on a tricky wicket with the pink ball, Mitchell Starc and Scott Boland delivered historic performances to bowl out West Indies for just 27 runs, the second-lowest total ever recorded in the format.

Led by Starc, who produced the fastest five-wicket haul in Test history, and Boland, who claimed a dramatic hat-trick, the Australian attack delivered a ruthless 14.3-over demolition of the hosts. It was a day of tumbling records, historical lows, and an all-time statement of dominance from Pat Cummins’ side.

The West Indies’ total of 27 is now the second-lowest in the 147-year history of Test cricket, surpassed only by New Zealand’s infamous 26 all out against England in 1955. It is now the lowest ever Test score by the West Indies, eclipsing their previous worst of 47, back in 2004.

Lowest Test Mach Scores

West Indies’ near record-low total wasn’t their only brush with infamous history. Here are all the other grim statistics from this match:

• The collapse came in just 14.3 overs, making it the third-shortest all-out innings in the history of Test cricket.
• For the first time in Test history seven batters were dismissed for zero in a single innings.
• Six runs by the top six: The lowest ever combined score by a top six in any Test innings.
• Only 170 runs across both innings: The lowest ever match total for the West Indies in a Test where they were bowled out twice.
• 516 total runs in the match: The seventh-lowest combined tally for a completed men’s Test match, and the lowest since 1910.

Records That Fell in Kingston

• Fastest five-wicket haul in men’s Tests: Starc (15 balls)
• Best bowling figures in a player’s 100th Test: Starc (6/9)
• Hat-trick for Australia in Tests: Boland becomes the 10th to achieve the feat
• Second-lowest team total in Test history: West Indies (27)
• Lowest ever Test total by West Indies
• First team to lose three wickets for 0 runs in the first over since 2006
• Third shortest all-out innings in overs (14.3)
• Lowest score without an individual fifty in a completed Test since 2015

A Test innings that began with Australia posting a seemingly modest total of 204 turned into a timeless bowling masterclass. In just over 1,000 deliveries, history was rewritten in Kingston including a five-wicket haul in 15 balls, a hat-trick, seven ducks and total of 27.

Test cricket has rarely witnessed a spectacle of such devastating efficiency and likely won’t again for a long time. Australia didn’t just win a match and made their intentions clear, they etched their names into cricketing folklore.