Aussies aim for series win over West Indies

Shaun Marsh was dropped from Australia’s Test side after scoring 182 as selectors took a long-term view of their Boxing Day bother. Australia’s arsenal of young fast bowlers have shown that they are ready to take off where Mitchell Johnson stopped when he retired from Test cricket.

Their breathtaking 75-run partnership in the opening 11 overs of the series-opener against West Indies in Hobart set the tone for a trouncing of the tourists in three days.

“Your body language always tells something to the other team, so it’s something that – especially (bowling coach and Test great) Curtly Ambrose – keeps trying to preach to them”, he said.

But Burns and Warner average 88.86 as an opening combination and Smith said that played a part in the decision. Cricket Australia (CA) have chose to include Usman Khawaja in the Boxing Day Test at the stake of Marsh. West Indies’ tour match in Geelong at the weekend proved useful for the visitors as Jermaine Blackwood, after making a pair in the Hobart Test, managed 69, and Brathwaite backed up from his first Test effort with 78.

With the defeat, the Caribbean side are now trailing 0-1 in the three-match series and will play their second match on the Boxing Day in Melbourne followed by the third Test in Sydney.

Australia: David Warner, Joe Burns, Usman Khawaja, Steve Smith (captain), Adam Voges, Mitch Marsh, Peter Nevill (wicketkeeper), Josh Hazlewood, James Pattinson, Peter Siddle, Nathan Lyon.

Burns and Warner already have three partnerships of at least 100 runs and selectors know their pairing will be crucial on a two-Test tour of New Zealand in February.

West Indies, which are now ranked eighth in Tests, have won their last five-day format series in Australia in 1992. “That’s something we really need to work harder on, and adapting to all the conditions we face”.

“They’ve had great success in the past against us and other teams”.

“I just put it down hopefully to one bad Test match and hopefully we can pull our socks up”. Once we understand that it’s easier to move forward.

“While legspinner Devendra Bishoo might come into contention at the MCG after Jomel Warrican was used in Hobart, one forced change will be made to the pace attack after Shannon Gabriel flew home with an ankle injury. All throughout in the Caribbean we played Australia and England, then we went to Sri Lanka and they did really well there as well”, he said. Just one bowler-Holder-had an economy rate of under 4.00 in the first Test and this will be one of the key areas that will need improving.

While Gayle and Bravo, both in their 30s, can offer WI more experience than time, a relatively young Russell, 27, still remains a strong contender for the position of an all-rounder – a position that former captain Clive Lloyd finds him perfectly fit for when he called Russell one of the best all-rounders in the world.