The 29-year-old left hander then demonstrated he was more than ready to resume his Test career by clubbing an unbeaten 109 against the Melbourne stars in their Big Bash match this week, leaving Test captain Steve Smith and the selectors with a hard decision to make.
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“We were always talking about what’s coming up as well”, added Smith.
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They hardly dominated in the two-day tour match against a Victoria XI last week in Geelong as the build-up to the Boxing Test remained bumpy.
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Given little chance prior to the start of the three-Test series, those odds have since widened following the Caribbean side’s poor showing on the tour, and pundits are already predicting much of the same when the second Test bowls off tonight, Eastern Caribbean Time.
“We’ve been playing some good cricket lately and for us it’s just about maintaining that”.
“I wouldn’t say we let them off the hook”, Holder said. Given what Brathwaite and Bravo showed with the bat, it is imperative that Taylor summons something approaching his best this week, or the Test will quickly go the same way as its predecessor.
“They average 80 as a pair and it’s pretty important to have a good opening stand”.
It will otherwise be an unchanged side for Saturday’s Test at the Melbourne Cricket Ground, where Australia are favoured to retain the Frank Worrell trophy against the struggling tourists.
Several players with Test experience are now campaigning in the Big Bash League T20 Down Under while the West Indies are clashing with Australia in a three-Test series, and Simmons said it was “frustrating” not having these players available to strengthen the squad, reports CMC. “I remember walking on the field for the first time when we got here to Melbourne, it was a really nice feeling”, he said.
The MCG curator David Sandurski has predicted a surface that may offer some early movement before flattening out into an ideal batting track – pointedly saying it will have less in it for the bowlers than the recent Sheffield Shield match that resulted in a three-day victory for South Australia. “But I believe the guys have that sort of resilience in them”.
West Indies are considering the addition of Devendra Bishoo, the legspinner, after he claimed two wickets against a Victoria XI in last weekend’s practice game.
West Indies did not find the going that simple in Hobart. “There was a lot more drive in his deliveries”.
Australia: David Warner, Joe Burns, Usman Khawaja, Steve Smith (captain), Adam Voges, Mitch Marsh, Peter Nevill (wicketkeeper), Josh Hazlewood, James Pattinson, Peter Siddle, Nathan Lyon.
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Carlos Brathwaite is expected to sharpen a largely toothless West Indies bowling attack, and make useful contributions down the batting order.
