Aus vs WI – 1st test 2022

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Twelve millimeters of grass was left on the pitch at Optus Stadium for Australia’s first Test against the West Indies from Wednesday, with chief curator Isaac McDonald setting “good pace and bouncing” from the box.

Fireworks are expected as both teams are blessed with explosively paced attacks. There is also the idea that the visitors’ stick will collapse against Australia’s trio of star-studded rapids, who have dominated the two previous Tests on this ground: against India in 2018 and New Zealand in 2019. But the West Indies captain Kraigg Brathwaite thinks they can still defy those expectations.

“We want to beat [for] 100 overs, the main goal is to have discipline,” he told reporters on the eve of the test. We have drummers who can keep going, so it’s not to stop them. It’s up to them to do the processes throughout the entire innings. This is not to change anyone’s game.

“I think [batting] the time is always good to have Test cricket… to believe they can do it. We know Australia are a superior team. We have to play ten days of hard cricket, that’s our main objective.”

“He will do extremely well at this top level,” Brathwaite said, having played 18 Tests alongside Shivnarine early in his career. “He’s got a lot of patience and a good defense. He was an example for us in the first game, and we’re taking a leaf out of his book for the series. I think Tag will do a fantastic job, and hopefully he can do that. things even greater than his father.”
Brathwaite also said mid-order hitter Jermaine Blackwood would be available for the Perth test after suffering a bad head hit in practice on Monday, and fast bowler Jayden Seales overcame a knee problem . But West Indies will be without the all-rounder Raymon Reifer due to a groin injury for at least the first Test, with their final roster still undetermined.

Having ‘started the process’ towards a revival of red-ball cricket with home wins over England and Bangladesh earlier in the year, West Indies are eyeing a triumph in Australia, where they have failed to win a match. test since February 1997. .

And while the classic battles between teams from the 1990s enjoy reruns on Australian pay TV ahead of the series, nostalgia is growing for the heyday of the Frank Worrell Trophy when it was a landmark series and it was hotly contested.

“We know Test cricket is real cricket,” Brathwaite said. “As a team we want to do well for the Caribbean and want the youngsters to play test cricket for the West Indies. Obviously we’ve been great in the past and we’re using that as motivation to get to this level. If we stick together as a group, we can improve and reach these great levels.”

Brathwaite also hoped a competitive series would lead to more regular fixtures between Australia and West Indies after just five Tests between them in the previous seven years. The last of them came to Sydney, during the West Indies tour of Australia in 2015-16; they have played England in no less than 12 Tests since.

“We play against England quite often…once we play more [against Australia] often I think that would be a lot better,” Brathwaite said. “Playing Australia often enough would be good for us to challenge ourselves against one of the best teams in the world. We aim to get back to that level, but this trophy still means a lot to us.”

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