Aussie squad braces for tropical storm in St Lucia

The Australian men's side will hunker down on Friday as St Lucia braces for Tropical Storm Elsa which has sent the island into lockdown and could affect the team's preparation for their upcoming T20 series against the West Indies.

The St Lucian government has issued a national shutdown order for the small Caribbean island, which frequently experiences major storms between June and November during the Atlantic hurricane season, from 4am local time Friday (6pm Friday AEST).

Australia trained at Daren Sammy National Cricket Stadium on Thursday for the first time on tour but have had to cancel Friday’s session due to the storm.

The United States' National Hurricane Center warned the possible 250mm of rain could cause flooding and mudslides in the Windward Islands, of which St Lucia is the largest.

"On the forecast track, the (storm) system will pass near Saint Lucia or over the Windward Islands on Friday," read a release from St Lucia's National Emergency Management Organization (NEMO).  

"The shutdown will remain in place until an ALL CLEAR is given by the Prime Minister or NEMO. Therefore, the public is asked to remain indoors and not to venture out until such time."

The Aussies were confined to their hotel anyway due to bio-security protocols.

The storm was still more than 900 kilometres southeast of the Windward Islands on Friday morning Australian eastern time.

It was moving west-northwest towards at about 46kph with maximum sustained winds registering about 75kph that are expected to strengthen.

Australia have intra-squad T20 matches planned for Monday and Wednesday at the Gros Islet ground, but they could be thrown into doubt if St Lucia feels the full force of the storm.

The first game of the eight-match series against West Indies – Australia play a further three ODIs in Barbados after the five T20s – is scheduled for July 9. 

"I'm interested to see what is coming our way," said wicketkeeper Alex Carey. "There has been a release to the public here to lockdown and be safe over the next 24 hours.

"Not looking too far ahead to those (intra-squad) matches – hopefully there's not too much damage and everyone's safe around St Lucia.

"At this stage, we'll probably have the day off in terms of training and then we'll see what comes post-storm in the next 24 hours."

A tropical storm 'watch' (as opposed to the more severe 'warning') was in place for Grenada where Australia's upcoming opponents, the West Indies, are currently completing their five-match T20 series against South Africa.

A player-of-the-match performance from captain Kieron Pollard on Thursday levelled that series at 2-2 ahead of Saturday's decider.

The hosts were dealt a blow with promising spin-bowling allrounder Fabian Allen suffering a shoulder injury trying to save a boundary.