All you need to know for Australia's Windies tour

When is it?

It all starts in St Lucia on Saturday morning, Australian time, after which five T20 matches will crammed into eight days at the one venue.

Then, after a quick break to switch islands to Barbados and gather some breath, three ODIs in five days will follow in a whirlwind tour.

An 18-man Australian squad (plus two travelling reserves) flew out of Brisbane on June 28 for a 16.5-hour chartered flight to St Lucia. After a little more than a week to clear quarantine, acclimatise and train together, with a couple of intra-squad practice matches, the games will now come thick and fast.

The Caribbean is 14 hours behind Australia's eastern seaboard, but don't worry – we've done the hard work on the time zone conversions. The good news is Cricket West Indies have done Aussie fans a solid and scheduled all their T20 matches for evening clashes under lights, which makes for a pretty friendly start time of 9.30am AEST in the winter mornings.

T20 series (all matches at the Daren Sammy Stadium in St Lucia)

First T20: July 10, 9.30am AEST (July 9, 7.30pm local)

Second T20: July 11, 9.30am AEST (July 10, 7.30pm local)

Third T20: July 13, 9.30am AEST (July 12, 7.30pm local)

Fourth T20: July 15, 9.30am AEST (July 14, 7.30pm local)

Fifth T20: July 17, 9.30am AEST (July 16, 7.30pm local)

ODI series (all matches at Kensington Oval, Barbados)

First ODI (D/N): July 21, 4.30am AEST (July 20, 2.30pm local)

Second ODI (D/N): July 23, 4.30am AEST (July 22, 2.30pm local)

Third ODI (D/N): July 25, 4.30am AEST (July 24, 2.30pm local)

How can I watch?

All matches will be broadcast live in Australia on Foxtel and live streamed on Kayo Sports. Sign up for Kayo Sports here.

What about live scores, news and highlights?

Cricket.com.au and the CA Live app will be bringing you all the must-see moments from the matches, as well exclusive content from behind the scenes with the Aussies from our crew on tour.

Our website and app will have all the live scores, news and video, and will be the No.1 destination for everything you'll need to know or see.

Cricket.com.au also has you covered on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and YouTube.

Who's playing?

Much of the build-up to this series from an Australian perspective has been about who is not playing, so let's get that out of the way first: Steve Smith has an elbow injury, so he was ruled out of touring. Pat Cummins is staying behind with his pregnant fiancée, and David Warner is also skipping the tour to spend more time at home with his three young daughters.

Glenn Maxwell, Marcus Stoinis, Jhye Richardson and Kane Richardson – who all played at the IPL – have all opted out of touring, while Daniel Sams, who contracted COVID-19 in India ahead of the IPL, made himself unavailable for selection back in May on wellbeing grounds.

So, to answer the question, who is playing is a bunch of players very hungry and highly motivated to unseat some familiar faces and cement spots in the Australia squad for a T20 World Cup later this year.

While this series does include three important ODIs that will count towards qualification for the 2023 ODI World Cup (more on that below) this series is very much focussed around the build up to the T20 World Cup.

The selectors and captain Aaron Finch have both said international form will be hard to overlook and places – especially those in the troublesome middle order – are now up for grabs.

Australia squad: Aaron Finch (c), Ashton Agar, Wes Agar, Jason Behrendorff, Alex Carey, Dan Christian, Josh Hazlewood, Moises Henriques, Mitchell Marsh, Ben McDermott, Riley Meredith, Josh Philippe, Mitchell Starc, Mitchell Swepson, Ashton Turner, Andrew Tye, Matthew Wade, Adam Zampa. Travelling reserves: Nathan Ellis, Tanveer Sangha.

What about the opposition?

The West Indies love the T20 format and have all their big guns on display for this series, which for them is the middle series in a run of 15 T20 matches. They are already underway in their series with South Africa and have another five against Pakistan once the Aussie ODIs are done.

The Windies have a frightening array of batting talent at their disposal, and gave a glimpse of what they are capable of in their opening T20 against South Africa when they chased down the target of 161 with 30 balls to spare and eight wickets in hand.

Evin Lewis, Andre Fletcher, Nicholas Pooran have all been in good form so far for a Windies side that still boasts the likes of Chris Gayle, Andre Russell and captain Keiron Pollard, as well as allrounder Jason Holder.

West Indies T20 squad: Kieron Pollard (c), Nicholas Pooran (vc), Fabian Allen, Dwayne Bravo, Sheldon Cottrell, Fidel Edwards, Andre Fletcher, Chris Gayle, Shimron Hetmyer, Jason Holder, Akeal Hosein, Evin Lewis, Obed McCoy, Andre Russell, Lendl Simmons, Kevin Sinclair, Oshane Thomas, Hayden Walsh Jr

The Stat

Australia have not played the West Indies in a 20-over match since the 2014 T20 World Cup and have not played a T20 in the Caribbean since 2012. Apart from their match at the 2019 ODI World Cup, the two teams have not met in any format since 2016.

Who should we keep an eye on?

Given the fight for spots at the T20 World Cup, there's plenty. Dan Christian has a knack for winning titles, as his nine domestic T20 trophies across his journeyman career can attest. Experience and poise under pressure cannot be underrated in the T20 arena, and his inclusion could prove to be the missing link for Australia.

Likewise, Ashton Turner, who made a habit of putting in impressive performances batting at No.6 with the Perth Scorchers, is another who could force his way into the reckoning with performances on this tour. Turner didn't play a game on the New Zealand tour in February, but with Maxwell and Stoinis out of action, this could be his time to step up.

Josh Philippe has made a steady start to his international career but is yet to set it alight like he has in the BBL. With a tour of England last winter and five games in New Zealand now under his belt, the expectation is there he will start putting performances on the board, but where in the line-up will his opportunities come?

With the ball, the continued development of Riley Meredith as he plays more international cricket will be one all of Australian cricket will be following closely, but perhaps the most interesting in terms of Australia's T20 World Cup aspirations will be Mitchell Swepson. The Queensland leg-spinner did well in his surprise inclusion to face India at the start of last summer, and with all five matches at the same venue – plus with the T20 World Cup now confirmed to be played in spin-friendly conditions in the UAE – how Australia use him alongside front-line spin pair Adam Zampa and Ashton Agar will be intriguing.

Who takes the gloves?

It's one of the great unsolved mysteries of Australia's T20 side, but in all likelihood, it's going to be Matthew Wade. Australia changed tactics for their T20 gloveman midway through their England tour last year, dispensing with Alex Carey for Wade, who has played in the last nine T20s on bounce.

The interesting thing is most of those games have been at the top of the order due to the absence of David Warner (he sat out the games against India last November with a groin injury, then missed the NZ tour due to the since-cancelled South Africa Test series). But if Warner comes back into the Australia XI for the T20 World Cup, the flow-on effects for the Aussie batting will be causing some furrowed brows. Is Wade, a bona fide opener in T20s, the best option further down the order? Or does Australia turn back to Carey for that role? Can Philippe make a spot his on this tour? And then there is Ben McDermott, an improving keeper and in-form batter who will also be looking to make his mark.

And there's three ODIs as well?

That's right. While all the focus is on the build-up to the T20 World Cup and Australia's need to get that XI sorted, it's important to not overlook the three 50-over games Australia will play in Barbados at the back end of this trip.

They will count towards the ODI Super League, a largely overlooked league table from the ICC that will determine the qualification process for the 2023 ODI World Cup in India. The top seven teams, plus hosts India, will automatically qualify for the ODI World Cup while the bottom five teams will need to go through a qualifying tournament to reach the showpiece event.

Australia have so far played six ODIs that count towards the Super League (three each against England and India) and have won four of them to currently sit joint second in the table on 40 points. The West Indies have 30 points with a 3-3 record, and with net run rate the tiebreaker, currently sit seventh.

It's hard to read too much into the table at the moment with so few matches played – teams are meant to play eight three-match series each – but as we saw with how close qualification to the World Test Championship final became, nobody can afford to drop points anywhere.

Aren't Australia playing Bangladesh too?

That's the plan, although Cricket Australia have been at pains to point out at every available opportunity that "tours are subject to agreement on bio-security arrangements and relevant government approvals". So, with that in mind, the tour of Bangladesh isn't "officially" confirmed yet – it is up to the Bangladesh Cricket Board as the host to announce it – although there is a strong expectation it will go ahead.

There's been some background negotiations between the two boards going on, with CA absolutely steadfast in its commitment to do everything it can to keep its players safe. Bangladesh authorities have told local media they're happy to meet Australia's requests, which they said centred around logistical things like avoiding a public gathering at the Dhaka airport immigration centre.

Pending the BCB's confirmation, all seems good for the five T20s to be played in Dhaka – expected to be in early August – but again, it's a case of watch this space.

Qantas Tour of the West Indies 2021

Australia squad: Aaron Finch (c), Ashton Agar, Wes Agar, Jason Behrendorff, Alex Carey, Dan Christian, Josh Hazlewood, Moises Henriques, Mitchell Marsh, Ben McDermott, Riley Meredith, Josh Philippe, Mitchell Starc, Mitchell Swepson, Ashton Turner, Andrew Tye, Matthew Wade, Adam Zampa. Travelling reserves: Nathan Ellils, Tanveer Sangha.

West Indies T20 squad: Kieron Pollard (c), Nicholas Pooran (vc), Fabian Allen, Dwayne Bravo, Sheldon Cottrell, Fidel Edwards, Andre Fletcher, Chris Gayle, Shimron Hetmyer, Jason Holder, Akeal Hosein, Evin Lewis, Obed McCoy, Andre Russell, Lendl Simmons, Kevin Sinclair, Oshane Thomas, Hayden Walsh Jr

T20 series
(all matches at the Darren Sammy Stadium, St Lucia)

First T20: July 10, 9.30am AEST (July 9, 7.30pm local)

Second T20: July 11, 9.30am AEST (July 10, 7.30pm local)

Third T20: July 13, 9.30am AEST (July 12, 7.30pm local)

Fourth T20: July 15, 9.30am AEST (July 14, 7.30pm local)

Fifth T20: July 17, 9.30am AEST (July 16, 7.30pm local)

ODI series
(all matches at Kensington Oval, Barbados)

First ODI (D/N): July 21, 4.30am AEST (July 20, 2.30pm local)

Second ODI (D/N): July 23, 4.30am AEST (July 22, 2.30pm local)

Third ODI (D/N): July 25, 4.30am AEST (July 24, 2.30pm local)

* Details of five-match T20 tour of Bangladesh are yet to be announced by the Bangladesh Cricket Board. Tours are subject to agreement on bio-security arrangements and relevant government approvals.