West Indies have it tough against Aus

Going by the form book,West Indies don’t stand a chance against the Australians in the five-match one-day series that starts here on Sunday. Having lost five games in a row and missing key players — including Shivnarine Chanderpaul,Ramnaresh Sarwan and Dwayne Bravo — the Chris Gayle-led side has its task cut out. But going by their tour opener against the Prime Minister’s XI,Chris Gayle’s side make the upcoming series an equally poised one. In their first and only warm-up game,the Windies led by a hurricane 86-ball 146 knock by skipper Gayle,thrashed their opponents by 90 runs in a high-scoring encounter.

Not known to back down when facing a difficult opposition,Gayle has trumped up his team’s chances of winning the series. “We’re going to beat them 4-1. Not to worry,” Gayle said when quizzed about facing a daunting task of beating Australia.

Given the form that he’s in,Gayle could crash Australia’s unbeaten run and go on to make his first ODI century against Australia.

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“I’m looking forward to it. I think over here in Australia it actually suits my batting. The wickets here have a bit more pace and a bit more bounce. I like the ball coming on to the bat.”

Australia on the other hand has no injury trouble,but are spoilt for choice ahead of the match. Doug Bollinger is back in the squad after he was rested for the final two one-dayers against Pakistan,while Ryan Harris,Clint McKay and Mitchell Johnson are all in good form.