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Marlon Samuels: a perfect start to the tour; now all he needs to do is replicate his tour-game form in the first Test
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A West Indies-Australia Test at the Gabba is always a special occasion to
mark the start of summer. It doesn't matter that the last contest was
dramatically one-sided, an upturn of the thrashings delivered by the
tourists in the 1980s, or that the current squad is still searching for
batsmen to support Brian Lara consistently and bowlers to putty over the
Ambrose and Walsh gaps. In Australia the West Indians turn heads and raise
expectations.
The tourist's second Test at the ground flamed their reputation and began a
magical season that ended in a street parade through Melbourne to farewell
Frank Worrell's side. Forty-five years ago the game's most famous tie
occurred at a venue as unrecognisable today as the squad for the three-Test
series is to its world-beating predecessors. Despite their dramatic decline, the West Indians retain their enticing charm and their arrival in
Brisbane two weeks ago was covered in the news pages of The
Courier-Mail, which sent a reporter to follow them shopping.
During the late 1970s and throughout the 1980s West Indian teams felt like
extended family to Australians, arriving most years before Christmas and
staying for summers that didn't want to end. They battered Australia and it
hurt fingers, chests and pride, but their brilliant batting and fearsome
bowling was respected and privately enjoyed. These memories linger and will
burden Shivnarine Chanderpaul's side over the next month. It is not his only
worry.
Since West Indies inflicted Australia's last home series defeat in 1992-93
they have won only two Tests on two tours. The last trip in 2000-01 was a
5-0 disaster, beginning with a total of 82 in Brisbane and finishing with
the end of the captain Jimmy Adams's career. Australia can be a cruel
destination for leaders and the scheduling has made Chanderpaul the first
sustained target of Australia's Ashes-loss backlash. A disparate World XI
were flattened last month and nothing acts as a better wedge for Caribbean
players of proud nations than a series of demoralising losses.
A battery of fast bowlers, shorter than West Indies have traditionally had, has been employed to
upset Australia this time, but with most of them relatively inexperienced it is not
known whether they will be positively or negatively charged. Corey Collymore
is the senior man and is jostling for positions with Fidel Edwards, Jermaine
Lawson, Daren Powell, Tino Best and the allrounder Dwayne Bravo.
The batting is more settled following Wavell Hinds's finger injury and Marlon
Samuels's double-century against Queensland, but Brian Lara, who is 316 runs
from Allan Border's world record, is again the marked man. How and when he
snaps his out-of-form streak will almost certainly determine West Indies'
competitiveness against a team still holding world-champion status.
For Australia the series is a chance to re-assert dominance and they are
also using it to tinker for the future. Shane Watson is set for an extended
run as allrounder despite struggling for influence in both disciplines
during his two previous Tests, and a new opening combination has been forced
by Justin Langer's withdrawal with a fractured rib. Michael Hussey will make
his debut but with Michael Clarke, the new No. 4, being followed by Simon Katich,
Watson and Adam Gilchrist, the batting order carries rare uncertainty. Both sides
sense a contest of opportunity.
Australia haven't lost a Test at the Gabba since 1988, when Curtly Ambrose
introduced himself with a six-wicket, Man-of-the-Match performance alongside
Malcolm Marshall and Courtney Walsh. Viv Richards, batting in his 100th Test
behind Greenidge, Haynes, Richardson and Hooper, was bounced three times by
a young upstart named Steve Waugh.
West Indies ruled the world during that decade and the regular defeats
steeled Australia as their long-term replacement. England unveiled some soft
spots during the winter and West Indies must rain regular and strategic
follow-up punches if they are to turn an empire's one-series stumble into a
Caribbean-style crumble.
Australia 1 Matthew Hayden, 2 Michael Hussey, 3 Ricky
Ponting (capt), 4 Michael Clarke, 5 Simon Katich, 6 Shane Watson, 7 Adam
Gilchrist (wk), 8 Shane Warne, 9 Brett Lee, 10 Nathan Bracken, 11 Glenn
McGrath.
West Indies (probable) 1 Chris Gayle, 2 Devon Smith, 3 Ramnaresh
Sarwan, 4 Brian Lara, 5 Shivnarine Chanderpaul (capt), 6 Marlon Samuels, 7
Dwayne Bravo, 8 Denesh Ramdin (wk), 9 Jermaine Lawson, 10 Fidel Edwards, 11
Corey Collymore.
Peter English is the Australasian editor of Cricinfo.