West Indies in Australia
The start of the Australian summer is not far away with West Indies' tour of Australia to get underway in less than three weeks. There was increasing speculation that West Indies would again send a weakened side lead by Floyd Reifer but that has been dispelled with the WICB re-appointing Chris Gayle as captain for the Australian tour. That sent a wave of relief through the Australian camp who were happy with a full-strength line-up being sent across. The West Indies squad contains many regulars but also some players from the second-string side who played the home series against Bangladesh as well as the Champions Trophy. Those three include Adrian Barath, Gavin Tonge and Kemar Roach, the latter two playing in the first test against Bangladesh earlier this year.
The tour consists of a warm-up match against Queensland followed by a three test series with games in Brisbane, Adelaide and Perth. The One-Day and Twenty20 matches will follow in the new year, beginning in early February.
Hopefully the announcement of the strong squad will lead to some close, hard-fought cricket and with Australia suffering numnerous injuries on the tour of India at the present time, we may see a very competitive test series as well as a strong tour performance by the visitors.
Fixtures:
Wed Nov 18 - Sat Nov 21: Queensland v West Indians at Allan Border Field, Brisbane (10:00 local | 00:00 GMT)
Thu Nov 26 - Mon Nov 30: 1st Test - Australia v West Indies at Brisbane Cricket Ground, Woolloongabba, Brisbane (10:00 local | 00:00 GMT)
Fri Dec 4 - Tue Dec 8: 2nd Test - Australia v West Indies at Adelaide Oval (10:00 local | 23:30 GMT)
Wed Dec 16 - Sun Dec 20: 3rd Test - Australia v West Indies at Western Australia Cricket Association Ground, Perth (10:30 local | 02:30 GMT)
Thu Feb 4: Prime Minister's XI v West Indians at Manuka Oval, Canberra (10:00 local | 23:00 GMT)
Sun Feb 7 (D/N): 1st ODI - Australia v West Indies at Melbourne Cricket Ground (14:25 local | 03:25 GMT)
Tue Feb 9 (D/N): 2nd ODI - Australia v West Indies at Adelaide Oval (13:55 local | 03:25 GMT)
Fri Feb 12 (D/N): 3rd ODI - Australia v West Indies at Sydney Cricket Ground (14:25 local | 03:25 GMT)
Sun Feb 14 (D/N): 4th ODI - Australia v West Indies at Brisbane Cricket Ground, Woolloongabba, Brisbane (13:25 local | 03:25 GMT)
Fri Feb 19 (D/N): 5th ODI - Australia v West Indies at Melbourne Cricket Ground (14:25 local | 03:25 GMT)
Sun Feb 21 (D/N): 1st T20I - Australia v West Indies at Bellerive Oval, Hobart (18:35 local | 07:35 GMT)
Tue Feb 23 (D/N): 2nd T20I - Australia v West Indies at Sydney Cricket Ground (19:35 local | 08:35 GMT)
Squads:
West Indies (Tests): *Chris Gayle, Adrian Barath, Sulieman Benn, Dwayne Bravo, Shivnarine Chanderpaul, Narsingh Deonarine, Travis Dowlin, Brendan Nash, +Denesh Ramdin, Ravi Rampaul, Kemar Roach, Darren Sammy, Ramnaresh Sarwan, Jerome Taylor, Gavin Tonge
Australia (First Test): Simon Katich, Shane Watson, *Ricky Ponting, Michael Hussey, Michael Clarke, Marcus North, +Brad Haddin, Mitchell Johnson, Nathan Hauritz, Peter Siddle, Ben Hilfenhaus, Doug Bollinger
The start of the Australian summer is not far away with West Indies' tour of Australia to get underway in less than three weeks. There was increasing speculation that West Indies would again send a weakened side lead by Floyd Reifer but that has been dispelled with the WICB re-appointing Chris Gayle as captain for the Australian tour. That sent a wave of relief through the Australian camp who were happy with a full-strength line-up being sent across. The West Indies squad contains many regulars but also some players from the second-string side who played the home series against Bangladesh as well as the Champions Trophy. Those three include Adrian Barath, Gavin Tonge and Kemar Roach, the latter two playing in the first test against Bangladesh earlier this year.
The tour consists of a warm-up match against Queensland followed by a three test series with games in Brisbane, Adelaide and Perth. The One-Day and Twenty20 matches will follow in the new year, beginning in early February.
Hopefully the announcement of the strong squad will lead to some close, hard-fought cricket and with Australia suffering numnerous injuries on the tour of India at the present time, we may see a very competitive test series as well as a strong tour performance by the visitors.
Fixtures:
Wed Nov 18 - Sat Nov 21: Queensland v West Indians at Allan Border Field, Brisbane (10:00 local | 00:00 GMT)
Thu Nov 26 - Mon Nov 30: 1st Test - Australia v West Indies at Brisbane Cricket Ground, Woolloongabba, Brisbane (10:00 local | 00:00 GMT)
Fri Dec 4 - Tue Dec 8: 2nd Test - Australia v West Indies at Adelaide Oval (10:00 local | 23:30 GMT)
Wed Dec 16 - Sun Dec 20: 3rd Test - Australia v West Indies at Western Australia Cricket Association Ground, Perth (10:30 local | 02:30 GMT)
Thu Feb 4: Prime Minister's XI v West Indians at Manuka Oval, Canberra (10:00 local | 23:00 GMT)
Sun Feb 7 (D/N): 1st ODI - Australia v West Indies at Melbourne Cricket Ground (14:25 local | 03:25 GMT)
Tue Feb 9 (D/N): 2nd ODI - Australia v West Indies at Adelaide Oval (13:55 local | 03:25 GMT)
Fri Feb 12 (D/N): 3rd ODI - Australia v West Indies at Sydney Cricket Ground (14:25 local | 03:25 GMT)
Sun Feb 14 (D/N): 4th ODI - Australia v West Indies at Brisbane Cricket Ground, Woolloongabba, Brisbane (13:25 local | 03:25 GMT)
Fri Feb 19 (D/N): 5th ODI - Australia v West Indies at Melbourne Cricket Ground (14:25 local | 03:25 GMT)
Sun Feb 21 (D/N): 1st T20I - Australia v West Indies at Bellerive Oval, Hobart (18:35 local | 07:35 GMT)
Tue Feb 23 (D/N): 2nd T20I - Australia v West Indies at Sydney Cricket Ground (19:35 local | 08:35 GMT)
Squads:
West Indies (Tests): *Chris Gayle, Adrian Barath, Sulieman Benn, Dwayne Bravo, Shivnarine Chanderpaul, Narsingh Deonarine, Travis Dowlin, Brendan Nash, +Denesh Ramdin, Ravi Rampaul, Kemar Roach, Darren Sammy, Ramnaresh Sarwan, Jerome Taylor, Gavin Tonge
Australia (First Test): Simon Katich, Shane Watson, *Ricky Ponting, Michael Hussey, Michael Clarke, Marcus North, +Brad Haddin, Mitchell Johnson, Nathan Hauritz, Peter Siddle, Ben Hilfenhaus, Doug Bollinger