Australia named a 13-member squad for the first test match against West Indies to be played at Adelaide Oval from 17th January onwards. Marcus Harris and Cameron Bancroft who were in contention for the opening slot missed out for the opening test match.
Cameron Green, Steve Smith, and Matt Renshaw have been included in the squad for the 1st test against West Indies and will be in contention for the opening slot along with Usman Khawaja. Australian selector George Bailey that Cameron Green will be part of the playing XI for the opening test match against West Indies.
“Cameron Green will come into the playing XI for the Test in Adelaide in a squad also containing Scott Boland and Matthew Renshaw. We have selected a team we believe contains the best six batters in the country,” Bailey said.
Australia will be high on confidence after whitewashing Pakistan 3-0 at home soil. David Warner announced their retirement from test cricket. Their performance has been great so far as they are currently top of the 2023-25 ICC World Test championship cycle. The 2021-23 WTC champion would look to continue their winning form in the 1st test against West Indies and put pressure on the inexperienced West Indies team.
Steve Smith has been backed by several former players to open the innings for Australia in Test matches. Even Marnus Labuschagne expressed his want that Steve Smith would be successful as an opener in Test matches.
“Tongue in cheek I could say everything’s an experiment. That’s been part of the discussions with Steve, I believe he’s keen for this to be a significant chapter of his career,” Bailey was quoted as saying in a press conference. “We don’t look too far aheadâ€æ (but) for all intents and purposes, this is where Steve wants to stay.”
“He may do. It’s not something he’s doing on a whim, or he wants to do for one match and see how he goes. It’s selfless that someone who has had so much success in one position or a couple of positions in the middle order is open and willing and hungry to have a crack at something new and something different,” Bailey added.
Australia looks to continue their dominating run over West Indies
Australia would look to continue their winning form over West Indies in Test matches on Australian soil. They produced a dominating performance with a 2-0 win when the West Indies toured Australia for a 2-match Test series.
Under the captaincy of Pat Cummins, Australia thrashed West Indies by 164 runs in the first test match at Perth. It was another dominating display as they outplayed the visitors with 419 runs margin during a day-night encounter at Adelaide Oval.
The West Indies team have named the inexperienced squad for the Test series with Kraigg Braithwaite named as the captain. Kyle Mayers, Jason Holder, and Nicolas Pooran will not take part to focus on the T20I format.
Australia Squad for the first Test against the West Indies
Usman Khawaja, Matt Renshaw, Steve Smith, Marnus Labuschagne, Mitchell Marsh, Travis Head, Cameron Green, Alex Carey, Pat Cummins (C), Mitchell Starc, Josh Hazlewood, Scott Boland, Nathan Lyon.
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