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Brisbane: The West Indies will take on Australia in the first Test at the Gabba without the services of key middle order batsman Ramnaresh Sarwan, who suffered a training mishap.
This is Australia's first Test since their Ashes defeat in August and they are desperate to eliminate some of the pain by sweeping past West Indies, just as they did the last two times they toured
Windies media manager Philip Spooner said the classy No.3 batsman fell awkwardly during a normal fielding drill and was taken from the field by the team's physiotherapist.
Spooner said it was too early to rate his chances for the Test match, starting on Thursday at the Gabba.
The 29-year-old warmed up nicely for the three-Test series with scores of 73 and 64 in the drawn four-day tour match at Allan Border Field last week.
Gayle, who flew into Brisbane this morning, was on hand at training and batted in the nets. Even though the explosive opening batsman is suffering from jet-leg, he indicated he was prepared to play.
"I'm honoured, it's good to be back here. Hopefully tomorrow it will be a good day for the West Indies cricket team. This time we'll test our skills against the best team, so I'm looking forward to it," he was quoted, as saying.
Gayle rushed home to Kingston last week to be with his mother, who was admitted to hospital with heart problems. She is now recovering at her home.
Ricky Ponting hath no fury like an Australian captain scorned in England. Twice. Now he's home Ponting will be looking to bury every opponent in the lead-up to next year's Ashes series. At 34, he is entering the sunset of his career but will want to depart in a blaze of success following his latest setback.
Teams
Australia: Doug Bollinger has been confirmed as the 12th man because only an injury will be able to split up the golden boys of Mitchell Johnson, Peter Siddle and Ben Hilfenhaus.
Squad (likely): Simon Katich, Shane Watson, Ricky Ponting (capt), Michael Hussey, Michael Clarke, Marcus North, Brad Haddin (wk), Mitchell Johnson, Nathan Hauritz, Peter Siddle, Ben Hilfenhaus.
West Indies: Chris Gayle is a definite and now the big fear for the visitors is Ramnaresh Sarwan's back. If Sarwan is out either Narsingh Deonarine or Travis Dowlin will bat at No. 3, while Gayle is down to partner Adrian Barath, the 19-year-old debutant.
Squad (likely): Chris Gayle (capt), Adrian Barath, Ramnaresh Sarwan/Narsingh Deonarine, Shivnarine Chanderpaul, Dwayne Bravo, Brendan Nash, Denesh Ramdin (wk), Sulieman Benn, Jerome Taylor, Ravi Rampaul, Kemar Roach.
Pitch and conditions
Expect a tinge of green on the first morning and the usual tricky seam early in the match before it flattens out in a batsman's beauty. The weather is predicted to be typical November: humid, maximum temperatures around 30 degrees and the chance of a storm every few days.
Stats and trivia
Match facts
November 26-30, 2009
Start time 10:00 local (00:00 GMT)
