Australia vs West indies has two contrasting challenges confront the combatants in the three-match Test series that gets underway at the Gabba on Thursday. For Australia, it is a case of shaking off any lingering after-effects from the Ashes defeat, recapturing the form they showed in South Africa earlier in the year and re-establishing themselves as the world’s best Test side. For the West Indies, meanwhile, it is more a matter of simply restoring some pride and showing the cricket world that although bitter internal divisions have brought cricket in the region to its knees, they have not sent it into terminal decline.
A fragile truce in the catastrophic conflict between the West Indies Cricket Board and the West Indies Players Association has at least ensured that the Caribbean’s most established Test performers have made the trip down under, but even with the likes of Shivnarine Chanderpaul, Ramnaresh Sarwan, Chris Gayle and Dwayne Bravo on board, this is not a touring party to strike fear into Australian hearts. Indeed skipper Gayle may not even be available for the First Test in Brisbane after flying home to Jamaica to be with his seriously ill mother, with wicketkeeper Denesh Ramdin poised to deputise as skipper should Gayle not return in time. The jury is still very much out on Gayle’s suitability as a Test captain, not least due to the disparaging comments he made regarding the five-day format of the game earlier in the year and a heavy defeat in this series may ultimately cost him the role.
Naturally more of a middle-order batsman, Gayle has been forced to operate as an opener in recent times, essentially due to the fact that the likes of Devon Smith, Adrian Barath and Travis Dowlin have failed to establish an effective opening partnership. Dowlin did impress in the recent series against Bangladesh, but he will face a far more through examination from the Australian bowling attack should he be selected. Fortunately the middle order remains one of the tourists’ main areas of strength, with Chanderpaul, Sarwan, former Queensland Bull Brendan Nash and the destructive Bravo providing a stiff batting spine.
Chanderpaul is undoubtedly the jewel in the West Indies’ crown and will be regarded by Australia as the key wicket. Now 35-years-old, the left-hander from Guyana still has one of the game’s ugliest styles at the crease, but his strokeplay is pure elegance. Averaging just a shade under 50 in Test match cricket, he scooped the ICC Player of the Year award in 2008 and is arguably the only West Indian batsmen with the technique and temperament required to dig in and construct a match-turning innings lasting four or five sessions.
Vice-captain Ramdin, meanwhile, appears to have the wicketkeeping position locked down, but a batting average of just 24 is decidedly below-par for a gloveman in the modern game and he will need to show greater durability at the crease if the tourists are to trouble their hosts over the course of the series. Fragile, unproven and inexperienced are certainly not three words that would have been used to describe a West Indian bowling attack in years gone by and yet all three apply to the men charged with the onerous task of following in the enormous footsteps of Michael Holding, Joel Garner, Malcolm Marshall, Curtly Ambrose and Courtney Walsh. None of the bowlers in the touring party have ever played a Test match in Australia and of the likely starters at the Gabba, only Jerome Taylor has any meaningful Test experience.
The absence through injury of Fidel Edwards is a major blow, but his unavailability provides an opportunity for fellow-Barbadian Kemar Roach to build on the promising start he made against Bangladesh. The 21-year-old has the pace to unsettle Australia’s top order, but is yet to prove whether he has the control and discipline needed to establish himself as a genuine Test paceman. Ravi Rampaul is not as quick as Roach, but has shown some promise in the one-day arena and may find the swing-friendly Gabba pitch to his liking if he gets the nod for the First Test. Bravo, of course, is one of the few Test-class all-rounders going around and is a handy additional bowling option for Gayle, while the skipper himself is accomplished enough with ball in hand to have taken more than 70 wickets with his right-arm off-spin.
Darren Sammy, meanwhile, is another player who can make a useful contribution with both bat and ball, although bowling his certainly his stronger suit and he is also regarded as the side’s finest fieldsman. 26-year-old Antiguan Gavin Tonge completes the complement of quicks, but with only two Test appearances and no wickets to his name, he is only likely to be thrust into the breach in the event of a major injury crisis. In terms of spin bowling Sulieman Benn is Gayle’s go-to man, although he also has another option in the form of all-rounder Narsingh Deonarine.
The towering Benn is not a prodigious turner of the ball, but his height means that he can trouble batsman with variations in bounce, while the slightly less experienced Deonarine is a right-arm off-break tweaker whose style has drawn comparisons with former West Indies favourite Carl Hooper. Even in the unlikely event of Brisbane, Adelaide or Perth throwing up a spinners’ paradise, however, it remains hard to foresee either Benn or Deonarine producing a match-winning performance. One man who did produce such performances on a regular basis throughout his illustrious career was Joel Garner, but unfortunately for the West Indies, the man they call “Big Bird” will be restricted to off-field activities in his role as team manager. How the Caribbean cricketing public will be wishing that Garner was still slicing through the Aussie batting order rather than slicing through fruit cakes and pavlovas with the committee men up in the rooms.
And so to Australia. Ricky Ponting and the selectors have sensibly opted not to over-react to relinquishing the Ashes back in July, making just one change from the side that lost at the Oval ahead of the First Test at the Gabba.
Stuart Clark is the man to lose his place, making way for New South Wales team-mate Doug Bollinger who was hugely impressive during the one-day series in India and is regarded by the selectors as a Test stalwart of the future. Bollinger may well form part of a pace quartet in Brisbane alongside Mitchell Johnson, Peter Siddle and Ben Hifenhaus, as the home side are expected to leave out spinner Nathan Hauritz on a pitch that traditionally favours the seamers. Hauritz’s spot in the squad has again been the subject of considerable debate, with Jason Krejza and Bryce McGain both enjoying the support of a number of media pundits, but the 28-year-old from Wondai clearly did enough in both England and India to convince his skipper and the rest of the selectors that he remains the pick of the crop in the slow-bowling department.
Another player under pressure has been Michael Hussey who looked painfully out of sorts at times during the Ashes series. In typically determined fashion, however, the 34-year-old West Australian responded to calls for his axing with a gutsy second-innings century in the Fifth Test at the Oval and backed that up with a stunning display in India which saw him end the one-day series as the top run-scorer, averaging over 100. The selectors have also chosen to persevere with Shane Watson as an opening partner for Simon Katich and it will be interesting to see how much faith they show in the injury-plagued Queenslander should he fail to fire over the course of the series. Although his extra dimension as a useful medium-pace bowler helps to balance the side, the likes of Phil Hughes, Chris Rogers and Phil Jacques are all waiting in the wings, with the latter two stacking up the runs in domestic cricket once again this season.
Michael Clarke’s back injury, meanwhile, has hampered his preparations for the summer, but the vice-captain remains adamant that he is fit and raring to go. The nature of his injury, however, suggests that his part-time bowling talents will not be called upon as much in this series as they have in the past and this could mean more overs for Marcus North and even Simon Katich, whose chinaman bowling has been strangely under-utilised by Ponting in recent times.
On the wicket-keeping front Brad Haddin remains the home side’s first choice, but the selectors will be heartened to see that in Tim Paine and Graham Manou, they have two capable deputies ready to slot in with minimal disruption should the nuggety New South Welshman succumb to injury or a loss of form. Widely regarded as the best technical ‘keeper in the country, Manou performed well when handed a surprise Test debut following Haddin’s injury mishap during the warm-up ahead of the Third Ashes Test at Edgbaston, but the South Australian’s batting may be a touch short of true international quality. Paine, in contrast, looks considerably more adept at the crease but is some way off Manou’s standard behind the stumps. Given that the Australian selectors have a track record of placing batting strength above keeping skills and that Manou is five years older than Paine, however, it looks as if the Tasmanian will ultimately prevail and be anointed as Haddin’s heir apparent.
In conclusion, it really is hard to make a case for this series ending in anything other than a comfortable victory for Ricky Ponting’s men. There may still be lingering doubts regarding Johnson’s bowling action, Hussey’s shot selection and Watson’s credentials as a Test opener, but those doubts are unlikely to be exploited by a West Indies side low on both confidence and world class talent.
The explosive Gayle and Bravo have the potential to be match-winners on their day, but these swashbucklers tend to misfire as often as they produce their fireworks and rarely receive enough in the way of support from their team-mates. In Chanderpaul the visitors have a batsman who seems to thrive on adversity, often carefully compiling sizeable scores as the wickets tumble around him, but even when the former captain manages to steer his side to a respectable total, all too often the bowlers fail to produce the goods.
Leading paceman Taylor simply has to step up to the plate and lead by example if the West Indies are to pick up what would be their first series victory over the Aussies for some sixteen years. He has a promising new ball partner in the form of Roach, but the more experienced man must maintain his fitness and shoulder the bulk of the wicket-taking responsibilities. For Australia, this series should serve as an ideal warm-up for the sterner challenges that lie ahead in the form of Pakistan and ultimately the home Ashes series. For the West Indies, it will give some indication as to whether the Calypso Kings have any chance of regaining their throne, or whether their once-proud empire is well and truly beyond repair.
