West Indies openers Kraigg Brathwaite and Shamarh Brooks made half-centuries in a total of 5-297 at stumps on day one of 3-day Warm-up Match against Combined NSW and ACT.
The duo added 133 with captain Brathwaite (75) and Brooks (56) getting on top of a young attack at Canberra’s Manuka Oval which included recent Australian U19 representatives Liam Doddrell and Jack Nisbet.
Left-arm orthodox spinner Riley Ayre (3-70) made inroads to have the tourists 5-207 before allrounder Jason Holder (50no) and Jermaine Blackwood (42no) took their side safely to the close of play.
The West Indies have two tour matches before the Test series begins in Perth on November 30 and will be keen to get their batsmen in form before taking on Australia’s pace bowling attack.
West Indies face the ACT New South Wales XI in Canberra in a three-day, warm-up match, They will play their second and final warm-up match next week againts Prime Minister’s XI in Canberra. However, that will be a day/night fixture.
Brathwaite, Holder and Blackwood are mainstays of the West Indies side and their early tour success will be a boost to the visitors’ hopes of challenging Australia.
Brathwaite is the most experienced of the West Indies batters and is 13th on the all-time Test list for his country with 4893 runs at an average of 34.45.
The 34-year-old Brooks did not make his Test debut until the age of 30 and has been in and out of the team in his short 11-Test career that includes a maiden century against Afghanistan in 2019.
Brooks is yet to open in a Test match for West Indies where he has batted at No.3 or in the middle order.
West Indies last won a Test match on Australian soil in February 1997. They have beaten Australia in Australia in any format only once since, in a T20I in February 2013.
Squads:
West Indies Squad: Kraigg Brathwaite(c), Kyle Mayers, Jermaine Blackwood, Devon Thomas, Shamarh Brooks, Joshua Da Silva(w), Tagenarine Chanderpaul, Jason Holder, Raymon Reifer, Alzarri Joseph, Anderson Phillip, Roston Chase, Jayden Seales, Nkrumah Bonner, Kemar Roach
NSW/ACT Squad: Josh Clarke, Jack Attenborough, Blake Macdonald(c), Justin Avendano, Nathan Doyle, Riley Ayre, Thomas Vane-Tempes(w)t, Liam Doddrell, Raf MacMilllan, Jack Nisbet, Hunar Verma, Peter Francis
Series Schedule:
17-19 November: v ACT/NSW XI at Philip Oval, Canberra
23-26 November: v Prime Minister’s XI at Manuka Oval, Canberra (day/night)
30 November to 4 December: 1st Test at the Perth Stadium, Perth
8-12 December: 2nd Test at the Adelaide Oval, Adelaide (day/night)
Time to play young Chanderpaul to open and get him ready for the test match, bat brooks at # 3