da aposte e ganhe： A West Indies-Australia Test at the Gabba is always a special occasion tomark the start of summer
da poker： Preview by Peter English at the Gabba02-Nov-2005
Marlon Samuels: a perfect start to the tour; now all he needs to do is replicate his tour-game form in the first Test © Getty Images
A West Indies-Australia Test at the Gabba is always a special occasion tomark the start of summer. It doesn’t matter that the last contest wasdramatically one-sided, an upturn of the thrashings delivered by thetourists in the 1980s, or that the current squad is still searching forbatsmen to support Brian Lara consistently and bowlers to putty over theAmbrose and Walsh gaps. In Australia the West Indians turn heads and raiseexpectations.The tourist’s second Test at the ground flamed their reputation and began amagical season that ended in a street parade through Melbourne to farewellFrank Worrell’s side. Forty-five years ago the game’s most famous tieoccurred at a venue as unrecognisable today as the squad for the three-Testseries is to its world-beating predecessors. Despite their dramatic decline, the West Indians retain their enticing charm and their arrival inBrisbane two weeks ago was covered in the news pages of , which sent a reporter to follow them shopping.During the late 1970s and throughout the 1980s West Indian teams felt likeextended family to Australians, arriving most years before Christmas andstaying for summers that didn’t want to end. They battered Australia and ithurt fingers, chests and pride, but their brilliant batting and fearsomebowling was respected and privately enjoyed. These memories linger and willburden Shivnarine Chanderpaul’s side over the next month. It is not his onlyworry.Since West Indies inflicted Australia’s last home series defeat in 1992-93they have won only two Tests on two tours. The last trip in 2000-01 was a5-0 disaster, beginning with a total of 82 in Brisbane and finishing withthe end of the captain Jimmy Adams’s career. Australia can be a crueldestination for leaders and the scheduling has made Chanderpaul the firstsustained target of Australia’s Ashes-loss backlash. A disparate World XIwere flattened last month and nothing acts as a better wedge for Caribbeanplayers of proud nations than a series of demoralising losses.A battery of fast bowlers, shorter than West Indies have traditionally had, has been employed toupset Australia this time, but with most of them relatively inexperienced it is notknown whether they will be positively or negatively charged. Corey Collymoreis the senior man and is jostling for positions with Fidel Edwards, JermaineLawson, Daren Powell, Tino Best and the allrounder Dwayne Bravo.The batting is more settled following Wavell Hinds’s finger injury and MarlonSamuels’s double-century against Queensland, but Brian Lara, who is 316 runsfrom Allan Border’s world record, is again the marked man. How and when hesnaps his out-of-form streak will almost certainly determine West Indies’competitiveness against a team still holding world-champion status.For Australia the series is a chance to re-assert dominance and they arealso using it to tinker for the future. Shane Watson is set for an extendedrun as allrounder despite struggling for influence in both disciplinesduring his two previous Tests, and a new opening combination has been forcedby Justin Langer’s withdrawal with a fractured rib. Michael Hussey will makehis debut but with Michael Clarke, the new No. 4, being followed by Simon Katich,Watson and Adam Gilchrist, the batting order carries rare uncertainty. Both sidessense a contest of opportunity.Australia haven’t lost a Test at the Gabba since 1988, when Curtly Ambroseintroduced himself with a six-wicket, Man-of-the-Match performance alongsideMalcolm Marshall and Courtney Walsh. Viv Richards, batting in his 100th Testbehind Greenidge, Haynes, Richardson and Hooper, was bounced three times bya young upstart named Steve Waugh.West Indies ruled the world during that decade and the regular defeatssteeled Australia as their long-term replacement. England unveiled some softspots during the winter and West Indies must rain regular and strategicfollow-up punches if they are to turn an empire’s one-series stumble into aCaribbean-style crumble.Australia 1 Matthew Hayden, 2 Michael Hussey, 3 RickyPonting (capt), 4 Michael Clarke, 5 Simon Katich, 6 Shane Watson, 7 AdamGilchrist (wk), 8 Shane Warne, 9 Brett Lee, 10 Nathan Bracken, 11 GlennMcGrath.West Indies (probable) 1 Chris Gayle, 2 Devon Smith, 3 RamnareshSarwan, 4 Brian Lara, 5 Shivnarine Chanderpaul (capt), 6 Marlon Samuels, 7Dwayne Bravo, 8 Denesh Ramdin (wk), 9 Jermaine Lawson, 10 Fidel Edwards, 11Corey Collymore.
