Cummins defies Adelaide history and sends West Indies in to bat

Report Cummins defies Adelaide history and sends West Indies in to bat Green returns as Australia unleash a six man attack against an inexperienced West Indies side featuring three debutants ESPNcricinfo staff 16 Jan 2024 • 14 mins ago 2:40 'Huge task' awaits inexperienced West Indies against Australia in Adelaide Toss Australia chose to bowl against West Indies Pat Cummins has become just the second captain since 1992 to send a side in after winning the toss at Adelaide Oval as Australia hope to exploit cool, overcast conditions and a lively looking surface.

There was an audible gasp of surprise from the crowd after Cummins announced over the loudspeaker that he wanted to bowl first against a West Indies top six that, outside of captain Kraigg Brathwaite , has five players who have played just 11 Test between them. West Indies three debutants Kavem Hodge , Justin Greaves and Shamar Joseph were presented with their Test caps during the warm up.

West Indies all time Test leading runscorer Brian Lara presented Hodge his cap. Greaves received his from captain Kraigg Brathwaite and Shamar Joseph received his cap from former West Indies fast bowler Ian Bishop. As expected Australia made just one change from the side that beat Pakistan in Sydney with Cameron Green returning for his first Test since the Ashes last year in place of the retired David Warner.

Green will bat at No.4 with Steven Smith set to open for the first time in Test cricket in his 106th Test match. The decision to bowl first in Adelaide goes against all history at the ground. England were the last side to choose to bowl in 2017 but no other side has done it since 1992. Only nine teams have won the toss and chosen to bowl at Adelaide Oval with seven of them losing and one draw.

The only side to win after bowling first at Adelaide Oval was West Indies back in 1982 . West Indies face a monumental task to try and break a 27 year winless drought in Australia, having not won any of their last 16 Tests down under and lost 14 of those. Australia : 1 Usman Khawaja, 2 Steven Smith, 3 Marnus Labuschagne, 4 Cameron Green, 5 Travis Head, 6 Mitchell Marsh 7 Alex Carey (wk), 8 Mitchell Starc, 9 Pat Cummins (capt), 10 Nathan Lyon, 11 Josh Hazlewood West Indies : 1 Kraigg Brathwaite, 2 Tagenarine Chanderpaul, 3 Kirk McKenzie, 4 Alick Athanaze, 5 Kavem Hodge, 6 Justin Greaves, 7 Joshua Da Silva (wk), 8 Alzarri Joseph, 9 Kemar Roach, 10 Gudakesh Motie, 11 Shamar Joseph West Indies Australia Australia vs West Indies West Indies in Australia ICC World Test Championship.