Test cricket got a pulsating makeover as Australia claimed a thrilling three-wicket win over New Zealand in the first Test in the game’s 138-year history to be played under lights, and with a newly designed pink ball, at Adelaide last month.
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In what must be music to Cricket Tasmania’s ears, Australian seamer Peter Siddle has backed the West Indies to fire in this week’s first Test in Hobart despite a disastrous tour start.
Ambrose, who is now with the side as the bowling consultant said the discussions between the players and the coaching staff after the defeat as a sign that they acknowledge the magnitude of the task ahead of them.
Nevertheless, Ambrose feels that the onus will be on Australia to beat West Indies and is confident of his team putting up a good show in the upcoming Test series.
“At the end of the day when we perform and beat Australia, then the reporters will have to change their tune”.
“(We) never really finished them off.
“Being the underdogs, sometimes it’s good to be that way”. He also said he was expecting some hard cricket from Australia but was looking forward to it as well.
“They’re playing at home, they know the conditions better than us, we have a pretty young team as well. And we’re going to place up a superb present”.
“If we can take these 20 wickets as quickly as possible I don’t see why I can’t play all three Tests”.
“I think Brisbane is something that we have to seriously consider as a day-nighter”.
“It was good to see so many fans at the Adelaide test match and it was successful as an event, however, the pink ball experiment must be part of a bigger picture, and it alone is not the answer to making test cricket the best it can be”, Irish said.
“I believe that if you continue to do those things, we are going to be okay”.
In this year’s Caribbean series, he scored just 98 runs in two Tests – 62 of them in one innings.
Last week West Indies captain Jason Holder put emphasis on getting early wickets to put pressure on the Australian middle order.
Australia XI for 1st Test: David Warner, Joe Burns, Steven Smith(c), Adam Voges, Shaun Marsh, Mitchell Marsh, Peter Nevill(wk), Peter Siddle, Josh Hazlewood, James Pattinson, Nathan Lyon.
“So we believe we can compete and not only compete but we believe we can beat them and that’s our focus to beat Australia”.
“We’ve got to tinker with that ball a bit more”.
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The Australians for their part are wary of the nothing-to-lose attitude of the West Indies.
