Windies out to batter Australia - Sports News - Fanatics - the world's biggest events

Windies out to batter Australia

By Michael Crutcher 17/04/2003 05:51:05 AM Comments (0)

The West Indies hope their bulked-up batting attack will enable them to remain in contention for the Frank Worrell Trophy when the second Test against Australia begins on Saturday.

The Windies are building a stronger batting line-up for the Trinidad Test than the one which fell for 237 on the first day of the Georgetown Test last week.

The low total, in ideal batting conditions, enabled Australia to skip away during its nine-wicket victory, which left it one win away from retaining the Worrell Trophy.

The Windies will retain the same top four batsmen, with first Test century-makers Darren Ganga and Brian Lara at numbers three and four.

But vice-captain Ramnaresh Sarwan, backing up from a finger injury, will bat at five with Shivnarine Chanderpaul, who scored 100 in the first Test, at six.

Wicketkeeper-batsman Carlton Baugh will bat at No.7 in his Test debut after impressing the Australians with a lightning century during the opening tour match against the Guyana Board President's XI in Georgetown two weeks ago.

The Australians would not have been surprised if Baugh was chosen as a specialist batsman for the first Test but he will receive his first opportunity at Queen's Park Oval following an injury to wicketkeeper Ridley Jacobs.

But the Windies will have the same bowling problems unless debutant off-spinner Omari Banks can add some variety to the all-pace attack, which will struggle to take 20 Australian wickets to win a Test match.

Banks also impressed the Australians during the opening tour match and the 20-year-old said he was thrilled to be the first player from the tiny island of Anguilla ever to be chosen for a senior Windies squad.

"It is hard to put into words the feeling you get when you know you are selected, especially when you know you have worked so hard for it," Banks said.

Brought to you by AAP AAP © 2024 AAP

0 Comments about this article

Post a comment about this article

Please sign in to leave a comment.
Becoming a member is free and easy, sign up here.

« All sports news