West Indies will take on Australia in the second Test match of The Frank Worrell trophy at Sabina Park, Kingston on Thursday.
West Indies lost the first test by nine wickets at Roseau, Dominica. Although the hosts had a good chance of turning things around, they were unable to clean up the Australian lower order in the first innings of the first test which proved costly for them.
Adam Voges was the star of the match who scored a century on his debut at the age of 35 years. Devendra Bishoo was the lone fighter with the ball who replicated veteran leg spinner Shane Warne's dream ball, knocking off wickets by squaring up Brad Haddin.
Australia may have won the first Test match in three days, but they have reasons to worry as they will be in England to play the Ashes series post this tour.
The Australian top order, which consists of big names like David Warner, Steve Smith, Michael Clarke and Shaun Marsh, failed to impress in the first Test, leaving coach Darren Lehmann uhappy, notwithstanding the victory.
"That was a disappointing output. We need our top six making runs. We know that, to perform how we want to perform in each Test match. The tail got us out of jail here and they've done that a bit in the past. The batters will be working hard to get it right," Lehmann said in an interview to the official website of Cricket Australia after the first Test match.
West Indies trained hard ahead of the second Test at Sabina Park in Kingston. But Samuels went missing from Wednesday's training due to illness. If West Indies are planning a turnaround against the mighty Aussies, they will have to get their combinations and basics right. Only an all-round performance might unnerve the world No.1 side in Test cricket.
"Samuels is just under the weather. The physio will have a look at him later and see how he feels. Hopefully he can play tomorrow. Blackwood just got a hit on the helmet. He's just icing it at the moment. We'll just have to speak to the physio and see where he's at," said West Indies skipper Denesh Ramdin.
Australia batsman Chris Rogers was ruled out earlier on Wednesday from the second Test match because of the concussion from which he was suffering. The team doctor Peter Brukner confirmed the news ahead of the second Test match at Sabina Park, Kingston. As a result Shaun Marsh will hold his position at the top of the order alongside David Warner.
"Chris has improved but he is still not 100 percent so we are restricting his training. Therefore he is unavailable for selection for the second Test. While most concussions resolve within a week there is a significant number who remain symptomatic and require a longer period of recovery. Unfortunately Chris is in this category.
"We will continue to monitor his progress and hopefully it will not be too long before he is back to full training," Brukner told Espn Cricinfo.
It will be interesting to see how the pitch in Sabina Park would react as the game progresses. The Australians are likely to go with the same squad. West Indies might make a couple of changes if Samuels remains unwell.
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 2nd 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.
