West Indies are all set to play Australia in the first Test of The Frank Worrell trophy at Windsor Park in Roseau, Dominica on Wednesday.
It has been more than two decades that West Indies have not defeated Australia in the Frank Worrell trophy. The West Indians would look to change it now.
For Australia, the series will be a perfect build up for The Ashes 2015-2016, which starts from 8 July.
Australian opening batsman Chris Rogers will be missing the first Test match as he took a blow on his head during Australia's warm up game against West Indies Cricket Board's President XI last week. There is a concussion and he is yet to recover from that injury. Shaun Marsh is likely to replace Rogers and will open with David Warner.
Australia skipper Michael Clarke had announced earlier that Steven Smith will be batting at number three followed by the skipper himself at number four. This will be a brilliant opportunity for all the Australians to get themselves into the rhythm of the Test cricket ahead of the Ashes series against England this July.
Australia's bowling attack too looks formidable, with Mitchell Starc and Mitchell Johnson. Ryan Harris will be missing the Test series as his wife gave birth to a child recently, and will rejoin the Aussie squad for the Ashes. Starc and Johnson will be backed by Josh Hazlewood, who also has done well in the recent past.
West Indies recently drew a Test series against England at the Caribbeans. England were leading 1-0 up in the two-Test match series, but the host played some brilliant cricket to deny England a victory. Fans of the West Indies team will be hoping that they will retain the momentum against Australia as well in the Test series.
West Indies Cricket Board had announced a squad last week in which they left veteran Shivnarine Chanderpaul out. The selectors and the coaching staff had defended the decison, saying there is no place for sentiment as Chanderpaul has been out of form for quite some time now.
Rajindra Chandrika and Shane Dowrich are the two new recruits and they have had a good domestic season and might get picked for the first Test.
Expected Line Up:
West Indies: Kraigg Brathwaite, Rajindra Chandrika, Darren Bravo, Shai Hope, Marlon Samuels, Jermaine Blackwood, Denesh Ramdin (C & wk), Jason Holder, Kemar Roach, Jerome Taylor, Veerasammy Permaul.
Australia: David Warner, Shaun Marsh, Shane Watson, Michael Clarke (C), Steve Smith, Brad Haddin (wk), Mitchell Johnson, Mitchell Starc, Josh Hazlewood, Peter Siddle, Nathan Lyon.
Where to Watch Live
West Indies vs Australia 1st Test match Day 1 is scheduled for a 10:00 AM WIT(7:30 IST, 14:00 GMT and 12:00 AM AEST) start with live coverage in India and West Indies on Ten Cricket. The match can also be watched via live streaming online on cricket.com.au and Tensports.com.
Viewers in the UK can watch the first Test between West Indies and Australia on Sky Sports 2 and Sky Sports 2 HD and can live-stream it on skysports.com.
Cricket fans in Australia can watch the match live on Fox Sports. For viewers in the US, the live streaming will be on Willow TV.
