All you need to know: Australia v West Indies, second Test

The pink ball is out of the box for the final men's Test of the summer as Australia look to claim their fifth win in a row when they face West Indies in Brisbane. 

Match facts   

Who: Australia v West Indies 

What: Second NRMA Insurance Test Match

When: 25-29 January 2023, first ball at 2pm local time (3pm AEDT) 

Where: The Gabba, Brisbane

How to watch: Fox Cricket, Kayo Sports and Channel 7

Officials: Sharfuddoula Saikat and Nitin Menon (standing), Adrian Holdstock (third), Andy Pycroft (match referee)

Live scores: Match Centre   

Highlights, news and reactions after the match: cricket.com.au, the CA Live app, the Unplayable Podcast. Listen and subscribe to the podcast below.   

The Squads 

Australia: Pat Cummins (c), Scott Boland, Alex Carey, Cameron Green, Josh Hazlewood, Travis Head, Usman Khawaja, Marnus Labuschagne, Nathan Lyon, Mitchell Marsh, Matthew Renshaw, Steve Smith, Mitchell Starc

 

West Indies: Kraigg Brathwaite (c), Alzarri Joseph (vc), Tagenarine Chanderpaul, Kirk McKenzie, Alick Athanaze, Kavem Hodge, Justin Greaves, Joshua Da Silva, Akeem Jordan, Gudakesh Motie, Kemar Roach, Kevin Sinclair, Tevin Imlach, Shamar Joseph, Zachary McCaskie 

Australia have had a few minor concerns since the first Test, with Usman Khawaja being closely monitored for signs of concussion and Travis Head contracting Covid in Adelaide. However, both are expected to be fine for the second Test on Thursday.

There are no injury concerns for the visitors, who played three Test debutants in Adelaide. 

Local knowledge

Traditionally the first destination of a men's Test summer, the Gabba will instead bring it home this season.

With 42 wins from 65 Tests in Brisbane, Australia's winning percentage of 65 per cent is the highest here of all the five major Aussie Test cities. 

While renowned as a fast bowler's dream, off-spinner Nathan Lyon has a great record at the Gabba, with 46 wickets at 28.7 in 12 Tests.

The Windies have played 12 Tests in Brisbane, for three wins and six losses and the famous tied Test in 1960. 

The forecast

With cyclone Kirrily expected to hit far north Queensland on Wednesday night, there was a concern that the after-effects would mean big downpours for Brisbane. 

However as of Wednesday morning, the Bureau of Meteorology (BOM) believes the tropical low is now expected to bring intense rainfall to central and western Queensland in the following days, and not south-east Queensland, where the Gabba is located. 

While we may still see some rain over the weekend, the forecast is now much more cricket-friendly.

What's with the later start? 

It's a day-night Test, so play won't be starting in Brisbane until 2pm local time (3pm AEDT, 12pm AWST), with the toss on Thursday at 1.30pm. 

Australia have enjoyed complete domination in pink-ball Test cricket, with an unblemished record of 11 wins from 11 matches in the format.

The West Indies have played four day-night Tests, for one win and three loses. The two sides met in a day-night Test last season, which Australia won in Adelaide by 419 runs.

Confirmed starting XIs   

Australia XI: Usman Khawaja, Steve Smith, Marnus Labuschagne, Cameron Green, Travis Head, Mitch Marsh, Alex Carey (wk), Mitchell Starc, Pat Cummins (c), Nathan Lyon, Josh Hazlewood

 

West Indies XI: Kraigg Brathwaite (c), Tagenarine Chanderpaul, Kirk McKenzie, Alick Athanaze, Kavem Hodge, Justin Greaves, Joshua Da Silva (wk), Kevin Sinclair, Alzarri Joseph, Shamar Joseph, Kemar Roach

Australia are staying unchanged despite Covid running through the camp in recent days. Travis Head has recovered from the virus after picking it up in Adelaide while Cameron Green (and coach Andrew McDonald) both tested positive on match eve. However, Green has been given the all-clear to play under Covid protocols if he continues to test positive. Usman Khawaja is good to go, with no signs of concussion following the hit on the chin from Shamar Joseph that forced him to retire hurt in Adelaide. Matthew Renshaw is the reserve batter in the squad, but won't join the squad until Thursday as he will front up for the Brisbane Heat in the KFC BBL|13 on Wednesday night.

With a grand total of 98 Test caps between the top six (87 of which belonging to captain Kraigg Brathwaite), it's no surprise the West Indies batting order looked frail in Adelaide. But with only uncapped batters in reserve (Tevin Imlach and Zachary McCaskie), the visitors might be best served by sticking to their first Test XI.

The West Indies bowling unit was very good, with Kemar Roach saying the side gained a lot of confidence from bowling Australia out in Adelaide. However, the tourists have brought in debutant off-spinner Kevin Sinclair in place of Gudakesh Motie, as he adds a bit more batting depth to the lineup. It's definitely time to get Shamar Joseph up the order too; he proved in the first Test that he is not a No.11.

Recent form   

Past 10 matches, most recent first. W: win, L: loss, D: draw   

Australia: WWWWLDLWWW

Australia could make it five wins in a row and the perfect Test summer with another win in Brisbane. If the Aussies do complete the set and go 5-0 (across the Pakistan and West Indies series), it will be the first time they have won every Test of the summer since 2019-20, when they won all five against Pakistan (two) and New Zealand (three). 

West Indies: LDLLLWDLLW

The Windies' lack of Test experience and lack of recent Test matches showed in Adelaide, with the team let down by some simple errors despite some very positive signs. It's now five Tests without a victory but success on this tour won't just be measured by wins and losses. If the Windies get some big runs out of young batters Kirk McKenzie and Alick Athanaze or the inexperienced Tagenarine Chanderpaul or Kavem Hodge, that will be seen as a huge win. 

Head-to-head

Overall: Australia 61 wins, West Indies 32 wins, 25 draws, one tie

Past 10 years: Australia eight wins, one draw 

In Australia: Australia 40 wins, West Indies 18 wins, 10 draws, one tie  

In day-night Tests: Australia one win

Most runs: Brian Lara (2815), Viv Richards (2266), Desmond Haynes (2233), Clive Lloyd (2211), Steve Waugh (2192)

Most wickets: Courtney Walsh (135), Curtly Ambrose (128), Glenn McGrath (110), Lance Gibbs (103), Joel Garner (89) 

Rapid stats

• Australia have played the most day-night Tests of any nation (11) and have a perfect record with a 100 percent win rate in this version of the format
• The three Australian quicks have all found day-night cricket to their liking with fantastic records with the pink ball: Mitch Starc has 61 wicket with an average of 18.16, Pat Cummins has 33 wickets at 15.42 and Josh Hazlewood has 32 wickets at 19.9.
• Australia have lost only one of their last 34 men’s Tests at the Gabba (26 wins and seven draws) – a three-wicket loss against India in January 2021. 
• Steven Smith (32) is one away from surpassing Steve Waugh (32) for the outright second most hundreds for Australia in men’s Tests
• Kevin Sinclair will become the 338th player to represent West Indies in men's Tests and their fourth debut of 2024 after the trio of Shamar Joseph, Kavem Hodge and Justin Greaves debuted in Adelaide

Where to next?   

The sides will next contest the Dettol ODI and T20 series, both consisting of three matches each. Squads and fixtures for those matches can be viewed below.  

NRMA Insurance Test series v West Indies

First Test: Australia won by 10 wickets

Second Test: January 25-29, Gabba (3pm AEDT)

Australia Test squad: Pat Cummins (c), Scott Boland, Alex Carey, Cameron Green, Josh Hazlewood, Travis Head, Usman Khawaja, Marnus Labuschagne, Nathan Lyon, Mitchell Marsh, Matthew Renshaw, Steve Smith, Mitchell Starc

West Indies Test squad: Kraigg Brathwaite (c), Alzarri Joseph (vc), Tagenarine Chanderpaul, Kirk McKenzie, Alick Athanaze, Kavem Hodge, Justin Greaves, Joshua Da Silva, Akeem Jordan, Gudakesh Motie, Kemar Roach, Kevin Sinclair, Tevin Imlach, Shamar Joseph, Zachary McCaskie

Men's Dettol ODI Series v West Indies

February 2: MCG, 2.30pm AEDT

February 4: SCG, 2.30pm AEDT

February 6: Manuka Oval, Canberra 2.30pm AEDT

Australia ODI squad: Steve Smith (c), Travis Head (vc), Sean Abbott, Xavier Bartlett, Jake Fraser-McGurk, Cameron Green, Aaron Hardie, Josh Inglis, Marnus Labuschagne, Lance Morris, Matt Short, Will Sutherland, Adam Zampa

West Indies ODI squad: Shai Hope (c), Alzarri Joseph, Alick Athanaze, Teddy Bishop, Keacy Carty, Roston Chase, Matthew Forde, Justin Greaves, Kavem Hodge, Tevin Imlach, Gudakesh Motie, Kjorn Ottley, Romario Shepherd, Oshane Thomas, Hayden Walsh Jr.

Men's Dettol T20I Series v West Indies

February 9: Blundstone Arena, Hobart 7.00pm AEDT

February 11: Adelaide Oval, 7pm AEDT

February 13: Perth Stadium, 7pm AEDT

Australia T20I squad: Mitchell Marsh (c), Sean Abbott, Jason Behrendorff, Tim David, Nathan Ellis, Josh Hazlewood, Travis Head, Josh Inglis, Glenn Maxwell, Matt Short, Marcus Stoinis, Matthew Wade, David Warner, Adam Zampa

West Indies T20I squad: Rovman Powell (c), Shai Hope, Johnson Charles, Roston Chase, Jason Holder, Akeal Hosein, Alzarri Joseph, Brandon King, Kyle Mayers, Gudakesh Motie, Nicholas Pooran, Andre Russell, Sherfane Rutherford, Romario Shepherd, Oshane Thomas