The young West Indies have a difficult test match ahead of them against Australia

The young West Indies team will go into this week’s first test match in Australia’s capital city of Perth without having won a match on Australian soil in the past quarter of a century, but Pat Cummins’ top-ranked team has stated that they would not underestimate the visitors.

In 1997, the Caribbean team triumphed by 10 wickets thanks to a brilliant century scored by Brian Lara, which ironically took place in Perth. However, the Caribbean side has not won a Test in Australia since then. This week, Lara will be back on air as a commentator, and he urged the West Indies to put up a fight ahead of their match.

“I am not going to say that if we play at our best, we can beat Australia, but I want us to show resilience,” Lara told the Herald Sun newspaper prior to the two-match series, which moves to Adelaide next week for a day-night Test match. The match will be played at Adelaide Oval.

“Get the games started within the next five days. You can never tell. I can’t get the feeling that these kids are looking for a scrap, and it’s always in the back of my mind.

The team is not concentrating on their previous performance, according to the skipper, Kraigg Brathwaite.

He stated, “Obviously, past history shows it’s been a long time since having wins in Australia and whatnot, but we are focusing on our own aims.” “Obviously, past history shows it’s been a long time since getting wins in Australia and stuff.”

“What is the main objective is that we have 10 days of Test cricket, and we want to be playing a strong, solid 10 days of Test cricket,” said the captain of the team.

“All we want to do is provide pride to the people who live in the Caribbean.”

Tagenarine Chanderpaul, the young left-hander and son of the retired batting great Shivnarine Chanderpaul, is expected to replace Brathwaite as Brathwaite’s opening partner for the match that will begin on Wednesday.

After John Campbell, who opened with Kraigg Brathwaite against Bangladesh in June, was handed a four-year ban for violating an anti-doping rule, he was given his first call-up to the squad and given the opportunity to bat with Brathwaite.

In a practise match against a Prime Minister’s XI in Canberra, Chanderpaul demonstrated his mettle by scoring 119 and 56 runs.

Lara identifies Alzarri Joseph as the most significant risk among Kemar Roach, Jayden Seales, and the veteran Jason Holder, who are the leaders of a perilous speed attack.

Regarding the 26-year-old batsman, he had this to say about Joseph: “I believe Joseph is going to be special, and Australia is going to know a lot more about him by the conclusion of the series.”

A mountain of running times
The West Indies will take encouragement from the fact that they have won both of the Test series that they have competed in this year, one against England and one against Bangladesh at home. This is in spite of the fact that they have a less than stellar record in Australia.

However, in order to defeat Australia’s star-studded team, which currently sits atop the Test rankings, ahead of both India and the West Indies, the former will need to be at their very best.

In the most recent one-day series that Australia played against England, Steve Smith, who has recently returned to a more conventional batting approach, posed a significant threat to the Australian team by scoring 94 and 80 runs without being dismissed.

At the weekend, former captain Greg Chappell anticipated that Smith will “make a mountain of runs this summer.”

Brathwaite and his squad will also need to contend with the spin bowling of Nathan Lyon in addition to taming one of the most lethal pace assaults in the world, which is led by Cummins, Josh Hazlewood, and Mitchell Starc.

Starc is only 13 wickets away from reaching the 300-mark, and the weather in Perth are expected to be pace-friendly, which will help the left-armer.