For the first time on this tour, West Indies have what could be considered their strongest squad available.
Jason Holder and Kyle Mayers, who weren’t available for the Test series due to franchise commitments, are back and as are Sherfane Rutherford and Brandon King who missed the ODIs.
Alongside having Andre Russell (who has only played one previous T20I in Australia) and Nicholas Pooran there should be no shortage of batting power.
Russell returned to the T20I stage against England in December for the first time since the 2021 World Cup in the UAE having been headhunted by new white-ball coach Daren Sammy.
He responded with a player of the match display in his first outing then indicated this year’s World Cup will mark the end of his international career (or maybe not).
“I still have a lot left in the tank,” he said. “But, you know, based on discussions with the coach, I told him that after the World Cup I would walk away from international cricket, but if they need me, I will come out of retirement.”
He is bringing some encouraging form to Australia having made 192 runs at a strike-rate of 228.57 in the ILT20. Pooran, meanwhile, left the tournament as the highest run-scorer with 261 at a strike-rate of 170.58 while Johnson Charles was also consistent.
Rutherford struggled somewhat with 105 runs in seven innings, while T20I captain Rovman Powell only managed 71 runs of which 40 came in one knock. Meanwhile, King had a tough run in the BPL with just 36 runs in six innings and Mayers made just one appearance in the SA20 for Durban’s Super Giants.
One way or the other, though, the series promises plenty of runs: since the start of 2023, Australia are the second-fastest scoring T20I team with a strike-rate of 158.24 and West Indies are fourth at 153.10.
The squads
West Indies Rovman Powell (capt), Shai Hope, Johnson Charles, Roston Chase, Jason Holder, Akeal Hosein, Alzarri Joseph, Brandon King, Kyle Mayers, Gudakesh Motie, Nicholas Pooran, Andre Russell, Sherfane Rutherford, Romario Shepherd, Oshane Thomas