Teams rocked by injury doubts
Match facts
December 16-20, 2009Start time 10.30am (02.30 GMT)
Big Picture
Australia versus West Indies at the WACA. It's the sort of fixture that once upon a time had fans salivating at the prospect of a fearsome Caribbean pace attack thundering in on arguably the world's fastest pitch. Sadly, there isn't as much interest in the contest this year but that shouldn't hide the fact that this is a vitally important Test for both teams. The draw at Adelaide Oval, where West Indies had the better of the match, has injected some much-needed spark into Australia's home summer.
Australia have already retained the Frank Worrell Trophy but at 1-0 up in the three-match series and heading to a venue where they have won one of their past four Tests, they will need to work hard to ensure the series isn't drawn. Such has been the dominance of Australian teams and the decline of West Indies cricket over recent years that a 1-1 result at home would unquestionably be seen as a major failure for Ricky Ponting's men. But they were in the same situation last year in the Caribbean and went on to take the series 2-0.
The task for West Indies is to prove that Adelaide wasn't a one-off. West Indies fans have seen enough up-and-down results to know that a strong performance one week won't necessarily mean a repeat the following week. At least all the signs are positive. Senior men such as Chris Gayle and Dwayne Bravo stood up in Adelaide and newer players like Sulieman Benn and Kemar Roach added some zest to the bowling effort.
But the bottom line is that the Adelaide Test was a draw, a point that Brad Haddin made tersely on Monday when asked if Australia were viewing West Indies differently following their better showing in the second Test. It means that in order for Gayle's men to level the series they will need to become the first West Indies side to win a Test in Australia since 1996-97. If that happens, Australia will not only alter their view of West Indies but the cricket world will look at Ponting's team differently.
Form guide (last five Tests, most recent first)
Australia - DWLWDWest Indies - DLLLL
Watch out for
Mitchell Johnson hasn't played a game for Western Australia since switching from Queensland last year. But he does enjoy any chance he gets to bowl at what is theoretically his home ground, the WACA, where in two Tests he has 16 wickets at 18.93. He was advised by Dennis Lillee that a straighter line was the best option at the venue, to make the batsmen play, and it helped him pick up 11 wickets in a brutal performance against South Africa last season.Kemar Roach's name has been mentioned plenty of times in the lead-up to the WACA Test. He regularly hit the low 150kph region in Adelaide, so how will he fare if the Perth surface has pace and carry? The Australians feel they played him well last week and are keen to talk him down; the West Indies captain Chris Gayle has spoken of how hard Roach will be to handle at the WACA. Will he fall for the trap of bowling too short, or will the advice of the team manager Joel Garner help him master the surface? The answer could go a long way to determining the outcome of this Test.
Team news
Australia will have a debutant in Clint McKay after Peter Siddle failed to overcome a strain to his left hamstring that troubled him during the Adelaide Test. Siddle had a lengthy bowl in the nets on Monday but sent down only a few deliveries on Tuesday before being ruled out. Brett Geeves is also in the squad and is expected to be 12th man. However, Nathan Hauritz was hit on a finger during training and the team is considering calling for spinning cover, although he did bowl after sustaining the injury.
Australia (probable) 1 Shane Watson, 2 Simon Katich, 3 Ricky Ponting (capt), 4 Michael Hussey, 5 Michael Clarke, 6 Marcus North, 7 Brad Haddin (wk), 8 Mitchell Johnson, 9 Nathan Hauritz, 10 Clint McKay, 11 Doug Bollinger.
Despite a week in between Tests, West Indies also have some severe problems, with the batsmen Shivnarine Chanderpaul and Adrian Barath unlikely starters. Chanderpaul picked up a finger injury in Adelaide and Barath hurt his hamstring, and Gayle said neither of them looked good at training on Tuesday. Travis Dowlin will be the one to step in to open if Barath doesn't make it, while Narsingh Deonarine is preparing to bat in Chanderpaul's place.
West Indies (probable) 1 Chris Gayle (capt), 2 Travis Dowlin, 3 Ramnaresh Sarwan, 4 Narsingh Deonarine, 5 Dwayne Bravo, 6 Brendan Nash, 7 Denesh Ramdin (wk), 8 Darren Sammy, 9 Sulieman Benn, 10 Ravi Rampaul, 11 Kemar Roach.
Pitch and conditions
Every year in recent times the WACA pitch has been talked up prior to the Test as being a throwback to the fast and bouncy Perth surfaces of the 1980s. Every year, the pitch fails to live up to the hype. Two seasons ago Australia were sucked in to playing Shaun Tait in a four-man pace attack. It didn't work. Last summer, Ponting complained that the venue had lost its unique character. Will the WACA live up to its quick reputation this year? Hot weather in the lead-up has at least given the surface a chance to bake, but don't expect either side to go in without a spinner. The forecast for the next five days in Perth is mostly sunny, with temperatures creeping up to 37 degrees on Saturday.
Stats and Trivia
- Australia and West Indies have met in six Perth Tests for five West Indies wins; the only Australian victory came in the most recent game in 2000-01
- Australia have lost their past two Tests at the WACA. The previous time Australia lost two consecutive Tests at a home venue was in 1985-86 and 1986-87, when they went down to New Zealand and England at the Gabba
- Ramnaresh Sarwan and Shivnarine Chanderpaul are the only members of the West Indies team to have played a Test in Perth; Sarwan scored 2 and 1, and Chanderpaul made 3
Quotes
"If the WACA ground pitch is anything like the Perth of my younger days, I think they'll struggle like they struggled in Brisbane during the first Test."Ricky Ponting
"I'm fairly confident with the way we've been training and practising over the last week or so, coming out of the Test match, it augurs well for us. What we have to do is be positive."
Joel Garner, the West Indies manager
Brydon Coverdale is a staff writer at Cricinfo