Revealed: Australia's XI for the West Indies second Test

Kieran Francis

Revealed: Australia's XI for the West Indies second Test image

Australia's second Test XI will feature a single change from the team that defeated the West Indies in the opening match.

Steve Smith will return from a compound fracture in his finger for the second match of the series, which begins in Grenada on Thursday.

It has been only 20 days since Smith suffered the injury in the World Test Championship final against South Africa.

Josh Inglis is the player that makes way for the former captain after scores of five and 12 in the first Test versus the Windies.

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Despite Smith's recovery from injury, he will not be able to field in the slips in case of reaggravating the finger issue.

“He’s ready to go. The finger held up well. He was really happy, particularly batting,” Australian captain Pat Cummins told reporters.

“Fielding we still potentially need to manage it a little bit, so he might not be in the slips too often. Maybe for spin he’ll be OK, but (for the) quicks he might need to wait another week.

“So you might see him running around a bit more … probably some variation (between) mid-off and fine leg, (but) we’ll see if he lasts a few days down at fine leg. I reckon he’ll be itching to get up in the circle pretty quick.”

Australia XI vs. West Indies - Second Test

  • Usman Khawaja
  • Sam Konstas
  • Cameron Green
  • Steve Smith
  • Travis Head
  • Beau Webster
  • Alex Carey (wk)
  • Pat Cummins (c)
  • Mitchell Starc
  • Nathan Lyon
  • Josh Hazlewood

Kieran Francis

Kieran Francis is a senior editor at The Sporting News based in Melbourne, Australia. He started at Sportal.com.au before being a part of the transition to Sporting News in 2015. Just prior to the 2018 World Cup, he was appointed chief editor of Goal.com in Australia. He has now returned to The Sporting News where his passions lay in football, AFL, poker and cricket - when he is not on holiday.