Second-lowest Test total, Fastest five-wicket haul, Hat-trick: Australia pack West Indies for 27 in Jamaica

Australia pack West Indies for 27 in Jamaica (AP Photo)

Australia secured a comprehensive 176-run victory against the West Indies in the third Test at Kingston, Jamica. The outcome saw Australia complete a clean sweep over their opponent in the three-match series, having won the previous matches almost in a similar manner. However, the third and final Test saw West Indies hit an extreme low in the history of the format, while Mitchell Starc achieve yet another high.

Fastest five-wicket haul in Test

Starc delivered the fastest five-wicket haul in Test history. The pacer, who made his 100th Test appearance, took 15 balls to register the five scalps, which decimated the hosts.

Starc shattered the previous record for a "five-for" by four balls, surpassing Ernie Toshack (1947), Stuart Broad (2015) and Scott Boland (2021), who needed 19 deliveries to achieve the feat.

Just FIFTEEN balls was all it took Mitch Starc for (his first) five wickets #WIvAUS pic.twitter.com/VZ1nXU192o

— 7Cricket (@7Cricket) July 14, 2025

Starc finished the innings with six scalps in in 7.3 overs, while conceding just nine runs. Out of the seven complete overs he bowled, four were maiden. He had picked a solitary wicket in the first innings, in which West Indies posted 143/10 in response to Australia's 225/10.

"You talk about 100 tests and skill and fitness ... but I think today showed the real Mitchell Starc - what he can bring to a team. Which is, out of nowhere, tear an opposition apart and win a game for you," said Australia captain Pat Cummins.

Starc joins 400 Test wickets club

The drama began on the first delivery of West Indies' second innings, when Starc enticed John Campbell to nick an outswinger to wicketkeeper Josh Inglis. Debutant Kevlon Anderson shouldered arms to a ball that jagged back and struck his pad four balls later, before Brandon King edged on to his stumps as the hosts found themselves three wickets down with no runs on the board.

Starc, named player-of-the-match and series, then trapped Mikyle Louis lbw to become the fourth Australian to reach 400 Test wickets alongside Shane Warne, Glenn McGrath and Nathan Lyon. Two balls later, he trapped Shai Hope lbw and finished with figures of 6-9.

pic.twitter.com/pwP2gfvabL

— PCT Media (@pctmedia) July 14, 2025

Hat-trick

Starc was not the only bowler, who aided in West Indies' demolition. Scott Boland, who played the only Test in the series after replacing Nathan Lyon, became Australia's 10th bowler to take a Test hat-trick. Boland dismissed Justin Greaves, Shamar Joseph and Jomel Warrican to claim a hat-trick.

"He is amazing, isn’t he?" Starc said of 36-year-old Boland, who has 62 wickets from 14 Tests at an average of 16.53. "He would have played so many more Tests in another team."

It's an elite club Scott Boland joins with his Test hat trick pic.twitter.com/B6jGyiKM17

— 7Cricket (@7Cricket) July 15, 2025

Windies cricket hit new low

Starc's performance has reduced West Indies to 22-6 at Tea, 182 runs far from victory and staring down the barrel of cricket's ultimate embarrassment. The hosts were then five runs away from saving themselves the humiliation of the lowest-ever Test innings total. Boland claimed a hat-trick that left West Indies at 26-9, level with New Zealand's record for the lowest Test inning total. In the end, it was a narrow escape for West Indies as they added another run before Starc returned to bowl Jayden Seales. West Indies' 27/10 now stands as the second-lowest total in Test history after New Zealand's 26 against England in 1955.

Holy moly. West Indies all out for 27!

— Kevin Pietersen (@KP24) July 14, 2025

That was little consolation for West Indies captain Roston Chase, who said being bowled out for less than 30 was "quite embarrassing".

-with Reuters inputs