Tom Hartley vs Shamar Joseph - whose Test match-winning performance was better?
The last few weeks in Test cricket have belonged to debutants. First, it was Nandre Burger, who scalped 11 wickets in his debut series for South Africa against India. Next, Aamer Jamal stunned the Aussies by scoring 143 runs and scalping 18 wickets in his maiden series for Pakistan.
The trend has continued in 2024 as well, with West Indies' Shamar Joseph and England's Tom Hartley producing match-winning performances for their respective nations. Both Joseph and Hartley did not have much first-class experience as they started their careers away from home against the two finalists of last year's World Test Championship.
Express pacer Joseph received his maiden cap ahead of the first match against Australia, while left-arm pacer Hartley debuted against India in Hyderabad. Luckily for the two debutants, the conditions at both venues suited their bowling styles, and they made the most out of it.
Hartley scalped a seven-wicket haul in the second innings to set up England's 28-run victory at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium. Joseph's all-round brilliance ended in a losing cause in the first match, but he surprised everyone with a seven-wicket haul in the pink-ball game at the Gabba, powering West Indies to an eight-run victory.
In this article, we will compare the performances of the two bowlers and try to determine which player performed better.
Tom Hartley had a nightmarish start but made a dream comeback
Tom Hartley was taken to the cleaners by Yashasvi Jaiswal in his first few overs in Test cricket. The left-arm spinner received enormous backing from captain Ben Stokes in the first innings. He eventually returned with figures of 2/131 in 25 overs.
Any other captain would not have given Hartley enough overs to bowl in the second innings, but Stokes is different. He backed his new player and gave him 26.2 overs. The spinner repaid the faith shown by his skipper by scalping the wickets of Rohit Sharma, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Shubman Gill, Axar Patel, Ravichandran Ashwin, and Mohammed Siraj.
Hartley learned from his mistakes quickly as his economy rate came down from 5.24 to 2.35 in the second innings. Plus, he also bowled five maiden overs to put the Indian team under pressure.
Shamar Joseph retired hurt before hurting Australia in pink-ball Test
Shamar Joseph's story is different. The debutant had a decent start in the first Test, and he continued in the same vein in Brisbane, bowling a spell of 1/56 in the first innings.
In the second innings, Joseph got hurt on his toe, courtesy of a fiery delivery from Mitchell Starc. The number 11 batter was so badly hurt that he could not continue batting and had to retire hurt, bringing an end to West Indies' innings.
Joseph used the frustration of letting his team down as his fuel to torment the Aussies with the ball as he dismissed Cameron Green, Travis Head, Mitchell Marsh, Alex Carey, Mitchell Starc, Pat Cummins, and Josh Hazlewood to help West Indies defend 216 runs at the Gabba. In just 11.5 overs, Joseph took seven wickets while conceding 68 runs.
Considering how dominant Australia have been at the Gabba and in home pink-ball Tests, Joseph's exploits rank among the top 5 bowling performances by a visitor against Australia. One must also note that West Indies had not won a single Test on Australian soil in the last 27 years before this win.
On the other side, debutant spinners of visiting teams tend to trouble India in Test cricket. Tom Hartley did a great job, but it wasn't as incredible as Shamar Joseph's spell. Hence, it can be argued that Joseph's performance was better than Hartley's.