Pat Cummins anticipates Aussies' first Test in Grenada

AUSTRALIA Test captain Pat Cummins is anticipating the opportunity to play at a new venue as the second match against West Indies will be played at the National Cricket Stadium in Grenada, a ground that the Aussies have never played a Test match.

Australia won the first match by 159 runs at Kensington Oval in Bridgetown, Barbados, in the three-match series.

Only four Test matches have been played at the stadium in Grenada.

Cummins said, "You don't 100 pe rcent know what you are going to get," Cummins said in a media conference on July 2 on the eve of the second Test match. "Coming up against players that we have not played a lot against on a field that we have never played on before, so I think it is staying fairly open-minded and our message is always do what makes you a great player."

Speaking more about playing at an unfamiliar ground, Cummins said, "I think it is fun. Coming when there are a few unknowns and you have to think on your feet...it is something we did reasonably well in the first Test. We thought it was going to be really flat and it ended being a really bowler-friendly wicket...I like that part of it."

Australian batsman Steve Smith will play in the second Test after suffering a compound finger dislocation during Australia’s clash with South Africa at Lord’s in the World Test Championship final a couple of weeks ago.

Windies captain Roston Chase said after two even days of cricket in the first Test, his team let it slip. "I thought where we fell down was on the third morning of the Test," Chase said.

Dropped catches cost the Windies. "We had our plan set and we got the opportunity that we were looking for...I thought after that the guys went in a shell mentally and then we stayed away from the plans we set and we offered them too many runs and obviously there was too much for us to get in the end. They say catches win matches and we put down quite a few. Even though in the first innings we put down quite a few, we still restricted the Australians to 180, which I thought was good."

Chase said players like Travis Head, Alex Carey and Beau Webster made them pay for those missed chances.

West Indies are likely to play the same starting XI that featured in the first Test.

West Indies head coach Daren Sammy was disappointed with his team's fielding and Chase wants to correct that for the coach.

"It just shows how invested he is in the guys," Chase said about Sammy. "We work really hard to become a (solid) slip cordon. We take at least 30 to 40 catches every practice, so I guess when you put in that hard work as a coach and then you see the guys go in there and not execute, it is really heartbreaking and not what we would like, so I could feel his pain...I hope by this game we can see a different side of him on the TV screen."

SQUADS:

Roston Chase (captain), Jomel Warrican (vice-captain), Kevlon Anderson, Kraigg Brathwaite, John Campbell, Keacy Carty, Justin Greaves, Shai Hope, Tevin Imlach, Alzarri Joseph, Shamar Joseph, Brandon King, Johann Layne, Mikyle Louis, Anderson Phillip, Jayden Seales.

Australia XI: Pat Cummins (captain), Usman Khawaja, Sam Konstas, Cameron Green, Steve Smith, Travis Head, Beau Webster, Alex Carey, Mitchell Starc, Nathan Lyon, Josh Hazlewood.