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Australia will be taking on West Indies in the first Test of the three-match series at the Bellerive Oval in Hobart on Thursday. 

The Australian cricket fans are not yet out of the pink-ball hangover and now they might just not turn out in numbers when The Aussies will play hosts to West Indies from Thursday. Reports suggest that ticket prices have also been slashed for this series. 

West Indies played a tour game against Cricket Australia XI and to no one's surprise the visitors were mauled by the rookies as they handed the visitors a 10-wicket defeat. 

Jason Holder and co. have a mountainous challenge ahead of them when they take on the likes of Steve Smith, David Warner and others. The possession of the Frank Worrell Trophy has been with Australia for over 20 years now and thus it is not very difficult to decipher so as to which side will start as favourites at the Bellerive Oval, Hobart on Thursday.

West Indies' overseas form has been awful in recent times in the longest format of the game. They have not managed to win Test matches in the last eight years, apart from one against Bangladesh in the sub-continent.

However, Australia are riding high on confidence as they recently outclassed New Zealand in a three-match Test series and lifted the Trans-Tasman Trophy. They won the series quite comprehensively in spite of some heroic efforts from a couple of Kiwi batsmen Ross Taylor and Kane Williamson. 

Although Aussies will have home advantage, they will have to be without the services of Mitchell Johnson, who has retired from international cricket during the Test series against New Zealand. Mitchell Starc is injured and he is unlikely to make a comeback to any form of the game before ICC World T20 2016. Usman Khawaja suffered a hamstring injury during the New Zealand Test series.

As a result Shaun Marsh will be looking forward to make this opportunity count after his heroics in the pink-ball Test against New Zealand. James Pattinson also returns to the Test side after almost one and half years. 

Teams:

Australia: David Warner, Joe Burns, Steven Smith(C), Adam Voges, Shaun Marsh, Mitchell Marsh, Peter Nevill(wk), Peter Siddle, Josh Hazlewood, James Pattinson, Nathan Lyon.

West Indies: Kraigg Brathwaite, Shai Hope, Darren Bravo, Marlon Samuels, Jermaine Blackwood, Denesh Ramdin (wk), Jason Holder (C), Carlos Brathwaite, Kemar Roach, Jerome Taylor, Devendra Bishoo.

Where to watch live:

Australia vs West Indies 1st Test match is scheduled for a 9:30 am local time (5 am IST, 11:30 pm GMT) start with live TV coverage in India on Star Sports 1 and Star Sports HD 1. The live streaming option will be available on Starsports.com and Hotstar.com.

The viewers in the UK can watch Australia vs West Indies 1st Test match in Sky Sports 2 and Sky Sports HD 2. The fans can live stream the same on SkyGO.

Audience in the US can tune into Willow TV to watch the Australia vs West Indies 1st Test match and stream the same on Wilow TV online.

The fans in Australia will have to switch to Channel 9 and stream the same on Cricket.com.au.