Two famous Test playing nations begin a series down under on Wednesday when Australia and West Indies play the first of two matches over the next couple of weeks, with the opening game coming from the Perth Stadium.
This is a series which will contribute to the World Test Championship so Australia will be under pressure to win both matches to preserve their spot in the final of that competition. West Indies probably have nothing to lose in that regard and will be eyeing up a major scalp.
Australia
Australia are the number one team in this format of the game and they begin a big year of Test cricket with this series. The first thing they have to do here is focus on these two matches and not having it in their minds that it is a warm up for the South Africa series next month and of course The Ashes which is only seven months or so away now. This is their first Test since July and only their sixth since the end of The Ashes in January so they are entitled to build their way up to full speed.
The reason why Australia are so good in this format of the game is the quality of their bowling attack. They have three of the best seam bowlers in the world and a spinner who always contributes whenever he is needed. The other thing they have is an excellent all-rounder to balance a team. Their batting is generally solid, especially in home conditions and the other reason why they are so good is they still value and respect the longer format of the game.
West Indies
There is always pressure on a West Indies side when they don the whites and get the red ball out because any team that takes to the pitch is always judged on the sides of the 80s which were absolutely superb. This team has the firepower with the ball to mirror West Indies sides of old but the problem they have is pitches back home don’t really suit them and because they are not used to playing on wickets which do, their batters generally get found out on them.
If West Indies are going to have any chance of winning this match, or even just being competitive in it, then their openers are going to need to find a way of blunting the new ball and their bowling attack is going to need to bring the heat and look to take early wickets to put some pressure on the Australian middle order. The positive for West Indies is that they have played a couple of warm up matches which suggests they are serious about the series.
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Team News
Australia have already named their team for the series and there are no surprises in it with Josh Hazlewood coming back into the fray having missed out recently. Marcus Harris was confirmed as the opening partner for Dave Warner a while ago.
West Indies haven’t named their side ahead of the match but all the indications are that Tagenarine Chanderpaul is going to make his Test debut in this one. It has been confirmed that Raymon Reifer will miss out with injury.
Betting
You’ve got to think that Australia will win this match and it would be a surprise if they don’t win it well, but in these conditions there is no reason why West Indies can’t get stuck in with the ball. These are the conditions the likes of Kemar Roach and Jason Holder will relish, not to mention Alzarri Joseph so if they can bowl with discipline they can at least ask a few questions of the home side and be competitive, which I guess is their primary aim.
In terms of a bet on the match, I struggle to see Roston Chase making that big an impact in the game. He is expected to be the lone spinner in the side but he is only part-time at that at best and you would imagine these conditions will be all about the seamers. Even with the bat in hand there is a good chance that he is going to bat at six or possibly seven but I’ve always thought he goes better on lower and slower pitches. All five of his centuries have been at home and six of his nine 50s have been at home or in Asia and one of the ones which wasn’t was in Zimbabwe so I suspect a performance line of 82.5 points is beyond him.
Tips
Back R.Chase’s Performance – Under 82.5pts for a 3/10 stake at 1.83 with Bet365
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