 Yeah, cricket is where we begin on this Tuesday edition of the Sportsman's Zone. Three players will make their debuts for the West Indies, who will begin their Test Tour of Australia at the Adelaide Oval this evening. Dominic and Baxman, Kevin Hodge, Barbadian All-Brander, Justin Graves and Guyanese Fonspo, Leshamard Joseph will be handed the maroon cap for the first time in their careers. Let's have a look at the playing 11 for the West Indies. To be captained by Craig Brathway, Tejnirain Chandapolo was on tour in Australia last year, Kurt McKenzie just one Test match under his belt, Alec Atheneys with all the talent in the world, Kevin Hodgson, Justin Graves to make their Test debuts, Joshua De Silva, the Wicked Keeper and then the three fastballers, Zara Joseph, Kimar Roach and Shamar Joseph and Goudakesh Moti, the specialist spinner in this West Indies 11. No place for Kevin Sinclair. And here's a look at the Australian 11 for the opening Test match at the Adelaide Oval. Of course, Osman Kawaja and Stephen Smith at the top, Stephen Smith to open the batting for the first time in his Test career. Marnus Lavashain, Cameron Green, Travis Head, Mitchell Marsh, Alex Carey, Mitchell Stark, Cummins, Nathan Lyon and Josh Hazelwood. Of course, this Australian side, captained by Cummings, who has just been named player of the month of December 2023. Lansen Mariah, let's start with this West Indies 11 and what you make of it. I was hoping that Kevin Sinclair would have been able to get into the 11 as it turned out he's out and this is the 11 that we're looking at. Yeah. Now at the top of the show, I spoke about, you know, Yuan Lanz, of course, written for him, us listening to the interviews that he did, seeing the efforts that, you know, he had during the different matches that he took part in. And for me, it is, I think, a disappointing exclusion team. But again, you can only pick 11 players and of course, the players that have been given the opportunity, I really hope that they capitalize on it. I don't have a major problem with the entire squad. I would have loved to see Kevin Sinclair in it. You know, we spoke about what he brings to the set up, you know, the energy that he brings as well as his skills. But again, he'll get the opportunity, so I'm working with what we have on paper right now. Yeah. Not an entirely surprising 11 chosen here. I sort of was with Ricardo about Kevin Sinclair getting a look in here because I like his appetite for the game and he's a very promising player with a lot of tools and he plays with a lot of confidence and which I think will be needed for the West Indies to be competitive in this series. Having said that, there is also the view that the Aussies don't play offspin that well. And I'm not sure, you know, how much that would go into the strategies of the West Indies team with picking this 11. But it's a decent 11. We've already exhausted the fact that this is a very inexperienced team and the odds are heavily against them avoiding a heavy defeat. But you know what? Sport is played on the field. And if I could say one thing about this team is that I don't know that they're going into this game with a lot of pressure on them because they are not expected to survive the Aussies by most experts reckoning. So I think a lot of the players will go in saying to themselves, let us just relax, free your minds and play as well as we can. And usually that is a good attitude to approach any international assignment. Yeah. Yeah. Sometimes it can help significantly. I completely agree with you when the pressure is completely off you and you go into a match not having any significant expectations, but you take it ball by ball, you're able to express yourself even more. We've spent so much time though speaking about the inexperienced players in this West Indies setup. I want to take a quick look at one player who's actually done very well in Australia for the West Indies. And that is the Captain Craig Brathwaite. And I'm starting there because I think his performances will go a long way in determining how well the West Indies do on this tour of Australia. He averages 47.2 to in five test matches in Australia. This is above his career average or this 34.90 and his average in the West Indies with his 35.73. His best away averages 82 in the UAE. Just three matches there and 55 in Zimbabwe. He has scored one century and three half centuries down under. So he does do really well in Australia. And his one test at the Adelaide Oval though this is probably the only negative is that he scored just 22 runs, 19 in the first innings, three in the second innings. And he has not yet played a test match in Brisbane because his five test matches have been at different venues. And so this will be the first time that he, well, the second time, sorry, that you play in Adelaide. He hasn't played in Brisbane, which is where the second test will be played. But the point I'm making, Lancinari, is that the captain will have to lead from the front. And you speak about the fact that there will not be a lot of pressure on the team itself. I think if there is one man who may feel a little bit of pressure, it is Craig Brathwaite. One, because he's the captain, because he has the responsibility of leading this inexperienced unit, because even under the best of circumstances, Craig Brathwaite is one of the leading batsmen in the team. And the, how well the team does is based on his. His quite often, yes, dependent on how well he's able to perform as an opener. And so I think maybe there's a little bit of pressure on him, but with someone of his experience, if there's anyone who should be able to handle that pressure, it is him. But certainly, Lancinari, from my standpoint, his performances will be critical in this two test series. And just to add to that, right, we have to remember it's a team of inexperienced players, right? These youngsters are going to look up to Craig Brathwaite, look forward to him creating that foundation that openers usually have. It's not a setup where there's a lot of experienced players coming down the lower order, where if you fumble at the top, these players can all right come and bat and build up that score. For me, one, it's inexperienced players. Two, their confidence is the first time they're playing. It's not just a regular opponent. It's the Aussies. So for them and their confidence, Craig really has to get off going. He has to create that solid foundation to give them that ease, that peace of mind to come there and continue building from what he leaves off. Yeah. And you know what? One of the hallmarks of Craig Brathwaite's career has been his ability to know when to attack and when to defend. He tends to be a solid protector of his wickets. He's not a high risk taker. I remember like 16 years ago doing an interview with Keith Arthurton, who was coaching the West Indies under 15 team in an international U15 tournament in St. Kitts. And he was very impressed by the 14-year-old Craig Brathwaite because he was suggesting that even at that age, he would assess the pitch conditions and decide from very early in his innings which shots he will play and which shots he will not play, which was not normal for a 14-year-old. And I think he has carried that throughout his career, Craig Brathwaite. So he has the temperament to deliver the kind of or to steer the kind of batting performance from the West Indies team that will be necessary here to avoid a heavy defeat against the Aussies. Because if he can protect his wicket, even if he doesn't score quickly, which he never usually does, but he can garner the kind of batting resistance from the partnerships that he'll be involved in, it will go a far way into fending off a fearsome Australian bowling attack, which we know is one of the best in the world. And as I said yesterday on the show, there were things about the Pakistan series, which the Aussies just won 3-0, that sort of wasn't a true indication of how competitive the series was. The Pakistan team is significantly better than this West Indies team, though, lands in my opinion. It had some inexperience in it, though. Still significantly better, in my opinion, on quality. On paper. On quality. On paper. On quality. But you're not sure what this team will do here. And that's what I'm thinking. We haven't seen it. Some of these players haven't got the opportunity to show themselves at the international level. Not at this level. But we've seen them enough at the lower levels to have a very good indication of what is going to happen over the next three days. Or, well, if I'm to go by yourself and Mariah over the next four days. You know what? And I thought I would start with a positive today. And the most positive thing I could find about this West Indies team was Craig Brathway. What about Kimar Roach? There's the other end of it, yes. And Kimar Roach, which is not quite a positive. But Kimar Roach is an outstanding bowler. But he doesn't do well overseas lands. And even worse, he does not do well in Australia. And this is the thing. Let's have a look at it. He has played seven test matches at seven different venues in Australia. He has taken eight wickets at an average of 90.63, 90. His strike rate is 126.13. And it is the worst he has in any country. It is also the only country where he has an economy rate of over four everywhere else he bowls. He's not conceding runs at four and over. His best figures, three for 93, came in his maiden tour. That was 2009. So it's not as if you can look and say, well, he's learning the conditions and getting better. And he's gone wicketless in six of his 11 innings down under. It doesn't look good. He has a lot of experience. And you hope he comes to the party. But these numbers don't look great, Landsat Mariah. If you were in the management and selection staff on this tour, would you play Kemar Roach in this first test? Yes. Purely because of the experience that he comes with. And the younger fast bowlers, including an Alzar Josef who has been in fantastic form, can feed off that. No, here's the thing. I think although he hasn't had great success in Australia, Kemar Roach is a student of the game. I actually expect him to have one of his best tours. I don't see how those numbers can be any worse in this tour. Maybe he doesn't get a barrage of wickets. But at least I expect improvement on the economy rate. I don't know what else would improve, but definitely the economy rate. And we'll see. But definitely with what we have working with, I definitely would have played him in this first test. And he is playing. So that's important. Here's another tough thing for the West Indies. Steve Smith comes to the top of the order for Australia as the first time in Test Cricket that he will open the batting. If you have a look at his numbers, when he bats at number three, he averages 67. 29 innings, but that's his best average. 61 at four, which is where he has spent most of his career. 57 at five, 25 at six. His average gets worse. The lower down he gets, it gets better. The higher he goes says to me, this guy likes facing the new ball. He said that in his interview. Yeah. Opening the batting, that could be problems for the Caribbean side. And Pat Cummins pre-match suggested that Steve Smith has felt re-energized by this challenge of opening the batting for the Australians because he's 34 years old now. And based on his numbers, his numbers suggest that he's one of the best batsmen of all time. There's no question about it. The way he accumulates his runs and the... Why are you laughing, Ricardo? Because you say the way he accumulates his runs. Wait, that's what batting is? Accumulating runs. When you speak about a batsman by suggesting they accumulate runs or by saying they accumulate runs, that is a suggestion that you don't really rate them highly but the runs are there so you can't say anything. So I suspect that Lance doesn't really like to see Steve Smith bat but he has to give him his due because he has the runs on the board. You aren't far off the truth because he's not the most attractive-looking batsman. He's not a brand-lara. And he isn't the kind of batsman that you will stay up all night watching if you're in the part of the world and he isn't in the day when he's playing cricket. But his appetite for scoring runs is irresistible. You have to give him credit for that. And that's what batting is about, scoring runs. So whether he scores them fashionably or attractively... If you're an Aussie... ...is neither here nor there. Yeah, if you're an Aussie, it doesn't matter once he gets the runs for you. You know, I could think of one Caribbean batsman who this was in this team who some have described in similar terms as how you described Steve Smith just now, who many would love to have in the team right now. Shandor Paul? Yes. Shandor Paul? Well, not Tej. I mean, yes, we're happy to have Tej in the team. Ship around Shandor Paul. Yes. But what... Well, they called him the tiger. Yes. And that is because of how aggressively and determinedly he went about his job at the crease. And it was never easy to get Ship around Shandor Paul out. And his appetite for accumulating runs was on the nabble. So, you know, he'd be just there batting. And there were times... There were times you could say that he was boring. But the fact is, and I've always said this, you can't score runs in the pavilion. Yes. No. So when you're out, they're taking risks. And if it comes off, you get runs. But if it doesn't come off, you are out. Which has been a problem in the West End squad. Which has been a... So I was never a huge critic of Ship around Shandor Paul for that reason. Because for most of Shandor Paul's career, the West End's batting had struggled. Yes. And even though he wasn't the kind of player who would score as freely as Brian Lara would, because we would constantly... Score us freely consistently because he showed from time to time that he had the ability to score freely and quickly. Yeah, but it was this attitude to score quickly. His attitude was first and foremost to protect his wicket and to build an innings, no matter how long it takes. And I believe in test cricket, batsmen need to have that ability. And it is something that has been missing from a lot of West Endists batsmen. For decades, to be fair, even when the West Endists were strong in the 70s and 80s, there were a lot of batsmen who weren't interested in hanging around for too long. They wanted to... Which is why they call them Calypso cricketers, because they wanted to entertain and they were shot makers. But because the team was so strong from 1 to 11 and the bowling was so strong, there are a lot of times they would have gotten away with it. But in this generation of West Endist cricketers where batting has struggled so much, I don't have a difficulty with batsmen who are solid and painstaking even in how they get their runs, but they put a heavy price on their wicket. Yeah, I can do that too. I think I can do with all the excitement in test cricket. I could just sit down and watch them bat all day, it doesn't matter if they hit fours or sixes. I can put myself through that if it's going to get us a win. I'll take the excitement in T20 and ODI cricket. Yeah, and I agree with that. I want to say quickly, though, that for me personally, my only critique of Shibnir and Chandapol or my main critique of him came in very specific instances. White ball cricket? No, not white ball cricket. In very specific instances in test cricket. So I had no issues with how he went about building an innings. Absolutely none. But I found moments where it was time to accelerate, where he didn't. I remember, for example, a test match. Did it cost the game? I don't know if he rushed to go to a break. Well, it depends on how you look at it. There was a test match against India. I think it was in Trinidad in 2002, West Indies needed 50 yards to win. Shib was batting with the number 11. And very early in the over, he took a single and bam, the next delivery, the number 11 was out. And in my opinion, at that time, the responsibility of Shibnir and Chandapol is to shield the number 11 batsmen to ensure they face as few deliveries as possible. It wouldn't be someone like a Brian Lara because Brian Lara would be trying to get that 50-odd runs all by himself and ensuring that the number 11 faces as few deliveries as possible. 1999 at Kensington Oval in Barbados. Well, having said all of that, Lance and Mariah, the West Indies could use some boring runs down under in this two-match test series where it starts at 7.30 p.m. ECT, 6.30 p.m. in Jamaica, and it will be live on your home of champions, SportsMax, so ensure that you tune in to see what's gonna happen down under.