Australia eager for revenge as one-day series kicks off

After the euphoria of their epic and record-breaking victory in the fourth Test against Australia in Antigua, West Indies must now show some more of the same energy and enterprise in the one-day international series, starting in Jamaica on Saturday, or the Aussies will bring them back down to earth as fiercely as a Glenn McGrath tongue-lashing.

West Indies go into the seven-match series fielding a largely inexperienced squad, with an average age of just under 25. There are three players from outside the Test side: the World Cup duo of Ricardo Powell and Corey Collymore, and the uncapped Ryan Hurley, an offspinning allrounder from Barbados, but no Shivnarine Chanderpaul, whose brilliant hundred paved the way for Tuesday's historic victory.

Chanderpaul fractured the middle finger on his left hand while taking to catch Adam Gilchrist during Australia's first innings at St. John's, and he will now miss the entire one-day series against Australia and, possibly, next month's series against Sri Lanka as well. "The fracture was complex and required urgent surgery," said Ricky Skerritt, the West Indies team manager. "The best medical opinion indicates that Shiv will be out of cricket for at least six weeks."

Ridley Jacobs will also miss out. Saturday's fixture would have been his 119th ODI, but he has been given more time to recover from the groin injury which caused him to miss the second and third Tests in Trinidad and Barbados. His place will be taken by Carlton Baugh, who stood in for him in those matches and is one of five new caps in the West Indian squad, the other four being Hurley, Dave Bernard, Devon Smith and Omari Banks - whose unbeaten 47 on the final day at Antigua was a performance of huge maturity that few other 20-year-olds could have emulated.

The mechanical Daren Ganga is not required, despite his twin centuries in the Test series, but Pedro Collins, who was dropped after the second Test in Trinidad, misses out as well - quite a fall from grace for a player who opened West Indies's bowling in the first match of World Cup just three months ago.

For Australia though, it's the same old faces, as they pull on their gold jerseys for the first time since their crushing World Cup win in Johannesburg. In come Michael Bevan, Andrew Symonds, Ian Harvey and Nathan Hauritz, while Stuart MacGill, Ashley Noffke and Martyn Love nip over to England for a spot of county cricket, and Steve Waugh and Justin Langer fly home.

Ricky Ponting will return to action as well, after shaking off that virus which caused him to miss the Antigua defeat. His last one-day innings - 140 not out from 121 balls - earned him the Man of the Match award in the World Cup final, and with centuries in each of his three Tests this series, West Indies need no reminder of his destructive capabilities.

To date, Australia have won 10, lost 12 and tied one of their 23 ODIs in the Caribbean, and last time round in 1998-99 the seven-match series ended all square at three-all. But since then, Australia have progressed right to the top of world cricket with two World Cup wins, while apart from a spirited but ultimately doomed World Cup campaign and a 3-2 series win in India last year, West Indies haven't made the strides they would have wanted.

So as long as Brian Lara doesn't single-handedly take the Aussies apart, and no-one on either side mentions Mrs McGrath, Australia should have no problems adding this series to their routine 3-1 Test win.

West Indies Brian Lara (capt), Ramnaresh Sarwan (v-capt), Omari Banks, Carlton Baugh (wk), Corey Collymore, Mervyn Dillon, Vasbert Drakes, Chris Gayle, Ricardo Powell, Marlon Samuels, Devon Smith, David Bernard (12th Man).

Australia Ricky Ponting (capt), Adam Gilchrist (wk), Michael Bevan, Andy Bichel, Ian Harvey, Matthew Hayden, Brad Hogg, Brett Lee, Darren Lehmann, Glenn McGrath, Andrew Symonds, Jimmy Maher (12th Man).