Australians ready to paint Bridgetown red

After losing the first two Tests of the series to Australia, the West Indies face more problems in the third starting on Thursday as the tou...

After losing the first two Tests of the series to Australia, the West Indies face more problems in the third starting on Thursday as the tourists welcome back Glenn McGrath, one of the game’s finest fast bowlers.

McGrath, who has taken 422 Test wickets but missed the first two Test after his wife fell ill, will boost Australia’s attempt to became the first visiting team to achieve a whitewash in the Caribbean.

“I think the way we are going it would be very hard for us to be beaten,” McGrath told reporters. Australia won the first Test by nine wickets in Guyana and the second in Trinidad by 188 runs but captain Steve Waugh believes they can still improve. “We have played excellent cricket so far but we can play better and this a good opportunity to show people how good we are,” he said. “Our fielding could get better, we missed a couple of opportunities (in the second Test) and we need to be a bit more sharp in the field. That’s where we are looking to improve.”

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Australia have yet to name their team but Waugh has already confirmed that McGrath will play and that the visitors are likely to continue fielding five bowlers.

“I assume it will be a similar plan to the last two Tests,” he said. “Five bowlers gave us more options.” Waugh’s other worry is to stop West Indies captain Brian Lara, whose last three innings’ have produced two centuries and a score of 91.

“He’s a world class player, we have some specific plans for him in this match, different to what we had before,” he said.

West Indies, who fielded only three frontline bowlers in Port of Spain and took only eight wickets in two innings’ as Australia declared twice, are expected to make changes.