West Indies upbeat over Australia Test challenge
West Indies and Australia will lock horns in Dominica on Wednesday with the visitors expected to extend their 20-year dominance over the Caribbean team in the short Test series. Yet while the form book suggests Michael Clarke's side should prevail in the two-Test series, Denesh Ramdin's men will be looking to pick up from where they left off in the recent three-match series with England, which ended all-square at 1-1. Australia, who head to England immediately after the second Test in Jamaica to defend the Ashes, have suffered a setback, with opening batsman Chris Rogers ruled out due to symptoms of concussion after being struck on the helmet by a local bowler in the nets on Sunday. Shaun Marsh, who scored an impressive hundred in the tourists' lone warm-up match against a West Indies Cricket Board President’s XI in Antigua, is virtually confirmed to open the batting with David Warner. Rogers' recovery from the injury will be monitored closely to determine whether he can be considered for the second Test at Sabina Park starting on June 11. Much of the West Indies' build-up has focused on the omission of Shivnarine Chanderpaul, a player built along similar lines to Rogers and with an impressive international record. Just 87 runs away from surpassing Brian Lara as the most prolific West Indian batsman in the history of Test cricket, Chanderpaul apparently did not agree with the selectors' decision to focus on developing talented young players at his expense. But his previous two series, at home to England and in South Africa, have been poor. Rajindra Chandrika, like Chanderpaul a native of Guyana, looks likely to open the batting in his debut Test alongside Kraigg Brathwaite. The 25-year-old is yet to score a hundred in 32 first-class matches and a modest batting average of 25.81 will hardly strike fear in the hearts of an Australian bowling line-up expected to be spearheaded by the two Mitchells, Johnson and Starc. Fawad Ahmed is duelling with established Australian off-spinner Nathan Lyon for the specialist slow bowler's role on a pitch that offers little assistance for the pacemen. In 2012, skipper Clarke snared five for 86 with his left-arm spinners to bowl his team to a 75-run victory and 2-0 series triumph but it is unlikely that either team will venture beyond the lone frontline spinner, leaving the bulk of the work in the match to be borne by their pace attacks. Australia, then under Mark Taylor, ended the West Indies' 15-year reign of invincibility in Test series in 1995. Since then, the visitors' only hiccup in the Caribbean was in 1999 when Steve Waugh’s side claimed victory in the final Test to square the series at 2-2 and retain the Frank Worrell Trophy despite the phenomenal batting exploits of Lara.
