West Indies team preview: Part 2

Many visiting teams to Australia have been blown away on the opening day of the Test series.

The West Indies are widely tipped to struggle and surely need a solid start today at Hobart to give them a degree of confidence.

In part two of my preview of the visiting West Indians, I look at their five-man attack, which is the strength of their line-up.

7. Jason Holder (24 years old)
445 runs at 30, including one ton, plus 19 wickets at 33 from 10 Tests

Holder is the future of West Indian Test cricket. Just 10 matches into his career, the 24-year-old already is the side’s captain and, arguably, their most valuable player.

He won selection based largely on his bowling but looks on course to become a batting all-rounder. Holder was very impressive with the blade in the West Indies’ five home Tests earlier this year, making 264 runs at 46, including top scores of 103* against England and 84* against Australia.

Holder’s 200-centimetre height will benefit his bowling on Australian tracks, although he struggles for penetration at Test level, in part because of a lack of pace – he operates in the 125-135km/h zone.

8. Carlos Brathwaite (27 years old)
Zero Tests. First-class cricket: 86 wickets at 21

Brathwaite looks set to make his Test debut today after a solid showing with both bat and ball in the Windies’ disappointing 10-wicket loss to the Cricket Australia XI last week.

He will have edged out hostile pacemen Shannon Gabriel, and it may well be that Brathwaite’s vastly superior batting will be the reason. Where Gabriel is a genuine bunny with the bat, Brathwaite can add valuable lower-order runs, which could be crucial given the struggles of the Windies top six against Australia in the Caribbean earlier this year.

Brathwaite is not as sharp as Gabriel, who regularly clocked over 145km/h against Australia, but he is tall and should extract sharp bounce from the Bellerive deck.

9. Kemar Roach (27 years old)
122 wickets at 28 from 34 Tests

Roach is quick – very quick. The right-armer has pushed the speed gun up to 154km/h in international cricket. He last played in Australia six years ago when, as a 21-year-old, he made several of the Australian batsman hop around but could not maintain a line and length.

Roach has improved considerably since and was the West Indies’ leading bowler over 2013 and 2014. His waywardness returned, however, during Australia’s tour of the Caribbean in June when, in the one Test he played, he took 2-139 while conceding more than four runs per over.

Roach is a bowler who can take wickets in bursts and Australia will be wary of this ability.

10. Jerome Taylor (31 years old)
128 wickets at 33 from 43 Tests

While Roach loomed as the biggest threat to Australia in the two Tests in the Caribbean, it was Taylor who shone. Taylor is a subtler bowler than Roach and, in particular, is more adept at moving the ball through the air. In the Caribbean he was able to swing the Dukes ball and this caused trouble for Australia’s batsmen. Whether he can find movement with the Kookaburra will dictate what impact he has on this series.

11. Devendra Bishoo (30 years old)
55 wickets at 38 from 15 Tests

Bishoo has had an up and down career and was not picked for the first Test against Australia earlier this year, with the West Indies selectors favouring left-arm spinner Veerasammy Permaul.

After Permaul laboured, returning 2-207 in the first Test, Bishoo got his chance. He promptly produced the finest performance of his stunted Test career, snaring 6-80.

Bishoo got his leggies to drift, drop and turn – the holy trinity for any slow bowler. He regularly beat the Australian batsmen through the air by imparting a heavy degree of overspin on his deliveries.

If he bowls as well at Hobart as he did in that Test he can have a significant influence on this match.