When Shamar Joseph walked out to bat as the last man for West Indies, it was about as intimidating a scenario as a Test debutant could possibly face.

The tourists were 9-133 nearly an hour before tea on the first day of the series, and had just lost 3-1 in nine balls; for a bounteous and knowledgeable Adelaide Oval crowd that ultimately swelled to 26,361 spectators, this was cause for as many sighs as cheers.

Shamar Joseph dismisses Steve Smith with his first ball in Test cricket.Credit: Twitter

In so many ways, the tale then told on the old scoreboard was a metaphor for the state of West Indian cricket. Its cricketers are dodging national duty left and right, especially in Tests, to play in the Twenty20 franchise world.

That’s because the game’s global economics make it increasingly tough for smaller teams to match the financial might of India, England and Australia when it comes to incentives to play international cricket. Plenty of athletes have given up their quest in the face of lesser odds.

Then again, Joseph, 24, had already overcome enormous adversity to get here at all, as one of the fringe players West Indies had left to choose from. Joseph hails from Baracara, a small, remote village on Guyana’s eastern fringe that was established by escaped slaves in the early part of the 19th century. It did not have a phone network or internet access before 2018.

Shamar Joseph celebrates the big wicket of Steve Smith from his first delivery in Test cricket.Credit: Getty Images

He had played just five first-class matches before he was handed his cap on Wednesday morning by Ian Bishop, after deciding a little less than two years ago to quit his day job as a security guard in Guyana and try professional cricket full-time.

In the days before the game, Joseph went shopping in Adelaide to try to find an arm guard, plus a gift bat to take home to his two-year-old son.

His life is a universe away from the more comfortable existence of a top Australian Test cricketer, who like Travis Head may choose to skip T20 games to prepare for the long form, safe in the knowledge that his national contract is more than adequate compensation.