First Test: Hobart, December 10
Second Test: MCG, Boxing Day, December 26
Third Test: SCG, January 23
FRESH off retaining the Trans Tasman Trophy against arch rival New Zealand, Australia now welcomes the struggling West Indies for a three test tussle over Christmas and the New Year.
And the Aussies are a ridiculous $1.01 with sportsbet.com.au to defeat the Calypso Kings.
A drawn series is rated a $21 long shot and the Windies are a blowout at $34.
And that’s for good reason.
They have won just one Test in their last 10 and that leaves the Aussies a $1.33 favourite to win the series 3-0.
We reckon the Aussies will be investigated for match fixing if the Windies even get close in any of the matches in this series.
If you’re looking for some value for your betting, it’s worth looking into the top run scorer and highest wicket taker markets for each team.
Gun opener David Warner ($2.40) and Australian captain Steve Smith ($2.50) are battling it out for favouritism for the most runs for the home side.
Boom opener Joe Burns is next in line at $6.50 and Adam Voges is the only other batsman in single figures at $7.
With the rock, Mitchell Johnson has retired and Mitchell Starc is out for a long time with a busted foot, so the remaining spearhead Josh Hazlewood is the $3 favourite to take the most Windies’ poles.
Walk up starter James Pattinson is a close $3.25, while spinner Nathan Lyon is $4.
Call up Nathan Coulter-Nile is the bolted, a $17 chance of taking the most wickets.
For the hapless Windies, veteran stagers Darren Bravo ($3.75) and Marlon Samuels ($4.33) head the batsmen’s betting, while the man with the most interesting spelling of ‘Craig’ in the world, Kraigg Braithewaite, is not far behind at $4.50.
Jerome Taylor ($3.50) and Kemar Roach ($3.75) are the two bowlers battling for supremacy with the pill for the Windies.
The man of the series betting is severely lopsided, with 11 Australians in the top 11 spots in the betting before you get to Samuels at $34.
Even newcomer Scott Boland – who has been called in as a stand by after a ridiculous haul of 7-31 for Victoria against Western Australia on the weekend – is ahead of every other West Indian.
Warner and Smith head the market at $4.33, while Hazlewood is $7.50 and Pattinson $9.
With Hazlewood and Peter Siddle in doubt due to workload and nagging injury, Boland could be a chance of suiting up, after working hard to shed weight since his days as a Premier cricketer with Frankston.
The Aussie’s batting line up looks set for at least the first Test, with the much maligned Shaun Marsh batting for his cricketing future, with new gun number three Usman Khawaja set to be available for the Boxing Day Test.
Coulter-Nile comes into the side without having played a single shield game this season, a “gut feeling” leading to his selection to replace Starc.
“With the exception of a forced change through the injury to Mitchell Starc we have decided to keep an unchanged squad following a successful series win against a strong New Zealand side,” selection panel chair Rod Marsh said.
“In an ideal world we would have liked Nathan Coulter-Nile to have played some more Sheffield Shield cricket but he has been a proven performer for Australia in short-format cricket and has very good pace.
”We think he is ready to compete at Test level if required.“
On the other side of the coin, you kind of have to laugh when you hear Windies captain Jason Holder say the Windies will look to exploit the Australian’s “weaknesses” in the middle order.
This is a side that has not won a series away from home soil (apart from Zimbabwe and Bangladesh) since 1995, when the beat New Zealand in New Zealand 20 years ago.
Those perceived weaknesses – perhaps he’s referring to the under performing Marsh brothers and the ageing Adam Voges – would be strengths in this West Indies squad.
“We’ve seen weaknesses we can exploit,“ Holder said, with a straight face.
“They have some in form batsmen like David Warner and Steve Smith so it’s important we put pressure on the middle order.
“If we can get some early wickets with the new ball we can get guys like Shaun Marsh, who are trying to make their way back into the side, and put them under some pressure to score.
“Once we do that then it should be a relatively competitive series.
“Not only do we have the pace but I think we have bowlers to extract the movement.
“One of the crucial things in this series is to extract some movement. We have to be skilful.
“We don’t just come with some belief. We’ve come with a lot of belief. We have to play aggressive cricket and we have to play smart cricket.”
The Aussies marked the first ever pink ball day night Test by wrapping up the three match series under lights against New Zealand with a three wicket win.
Batting first, New Zealand was bowled out for 202, with opener Tom Latham doing best with the bat with an even 50. all rounder Mitchell Santner made a nice start with 31 before he was castled by the devastating Starc, and keeper BJ Watling made 29.
Things looked ominous for the Aussies when series stars Kane Williamson (22) and Ross Taylor (21) got going, but Starc and Siddle ended their innings much earlier than in previous Tests.
Starc ended up with 3/24, before breaking down, while Hazlewood (3/66) was the best bowler with his own bag of three.
The Aussies found batting similarly tough, as the pink ball did plenty on the dewy nights and held together better than any one else was expecting.
Keeper Peter Nevill continued to enhance his standing in this Australian team with 66 and Smith grafted 53, but it was the late order heroics of Lyon, who scored 34 off 49 balls, and Starc (a remarkable 24 off 15 balls that included three fours and two sixes, that helped them to a small lead (224). Doug Bracewell grabbed 3/18 for the Kiwis.
New Zealand replied with 208, Santner again going nicely with 45 and Taylor 32, Hazlewood’s six wicket haul was the obvious feature.
With 187 to get, there were some nervy moments for the Aussies, but they hung tough and took 51 overs for Siddle to hit the winning runs.
Shaun Marsh did plenty for his confidence with a composed and pressure packed 49, while Voges and Mitch Marsh (28 each) were integral.
They had to survive a five wicket haul from Tim Southee (5/60), but, in the end, the Aussies won it with plenty of time to spare, finessing seven down for 187.
The win gave them a 2-0 series win, after they blew the kiwis out of the water in the series opener and then did enough to preserve a draw in a seriously high scoring affair in the second Test in Perth.
The Windies have plenty of kids cutting their teeth. They’re not going to win, but you can’t find this kind of experience anywhere.
Australia vs West Indies Win Draw Win markets
Australia ($1.01)
West Indies ($34)
Australia vs West Indies series correct score
Australia 3-0 ($1.33)
Australia 2-1 ($8)
Australia 1-0 ($36)
Draw 1-1 ($36)
Draw 0-0 ($501)
West Indies 1-0 ($276)
West Indies 2-0 ($276)
West Indies 2-1 ($101)
West Indies 3-0 ($501)
Australia vs West Indies man of the series market
David Warner ($4.33)
Josh Hazlewood ($7.50)
James Pattinson ($9)
Joe Burns ($11)
Nathan Lyon ($12)
Adam Voges ($13)
Peter Siddle ($15)
Mitchell Marsh ($17)
Shaun Marsh ($23)
Scott Boland ($34)
Marlon Samuels ($34)
Darren Bravo ($34)
Nathan Coulter-Nile ($34)
Peter Nevill ($41)
Kraigg Brathwaite ($41)
Jerome Taylor ($41)
Kemar Roach ($41)
Shannon Gabriel ($51)
Jason Holder ($51)
Dinesh Ramdin ($67)
Shai Hope ($67)
Jermaine Blackwood ($81)
Shane Dowrich ($81)
Rajendra Chandrika ($101)
Devendra Bishoo ($101)
Carlos Brathwaite ($151)
Jomel Warrican ($151)
All odds provided by Sportsbet.com.au
