Australia v West Indies: Follow all the action from the day-night Test in Adelaide

The Aussies have made two changes with fast bowlers Scott Boland and Michael Neser coming in to replace injured pair Pat Cummins and Josh Hazlewood.

Follow all the live action from day 1 here.

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STAND-IN SMITH WINS THE TOSS, AUSSIES BAT

Stand-in captain Steve Smith has won the toss and Australia will bat first in Adelaide.

“We’re going to have a bat. Traditionally that’s what we like to do here. If you bat really well. You can set the game up.”

West Indies captain, Kraigg Brathwaite announced three changes to the West Indies team with opening bowler Kemar Roach ruled out along with Jayden Seales and Kyle Mayers.

Marquino Mindley will make his debut 48 hours after arriving in Australia from Jamaica.

With play about to get underway, the starting XI for each team:

Australia: 1 David Warner, 2 Usman Khawaja, 3 Marnus Labuschagne, 4 Steven Smith (capt), 5 Travis Head, 6 Cameron Green, 7 Alex Carey (wk), 8 Michael Neser, 9 Mitchell Starc, 10 Nathan Lyon, 11 Scott Boland

West Indies: 1 Kraigg Brathwaite (capt), 2 Tagenarine Chanderpaul, 3 Shamarh Brooks, 4 Jermaine Blackwood, 5 Devon Thomas, 6 Jason Holder, 7 Joshua Da Silva (wk), 8 Roston Chase, 9 Alzarri Joseph, 10 Anderson Phillip, 11 Marquino Mindley

HAZLEWOOD RULED OUT, NESER IN

There is more late drama for Australia for the second Test with Josh Hazlewood ruled out and Michael Neser called into the attack.

In an almost carbon copy of last summer, Hazlewood has joined Pat Cummins on the sidelines for the Adelaide Test, with Scott Boland and Neser the additions to complement the senior man, Mitchell Starc.

It was high drama last summer when a Covid issue ruled out Cummins on match morning, while this year it’s David Warner’s fury over his treatment by Cricket Australia and its independent review of his leadership ban.

Hazlewood missed the start of training on Tuesday and didn’t partake in the fielding session with teammates as he headed to the gym instead.

It’s understood there is a niggling issue with his hip and selectors have decided to err on the side of caution, despite the fact stand-in captain Steve Smith had declared Hazlewood and Starc fit to play on match eve.

Starc led an inexperienced attack of Neser – who debuted last year in Adelaide – and Jhye Richardson last summer and they got the job done against England with the pink ball.

Boland has the experience of three Tests from last summer, but it’s still a very green Australian attack compared to the normal set up of old heads Hazlewood, Starc and Cummins.

CLARKE: UNFAIR TO MAKE WARNER THE SANDPAPERGATE ‘SCAPEGOAT’

Former Australian captain Michael Clarke has hit out at Cricket Australia’s baffling inconsistency in the process to review David Warner’s leadership ban, questioning why the opener has become a scapegoat for so much of the Sandpapergate affair.

Steve Smith, who led Australia during the Sandpapergate affair in South Africa almost five years ago, will skipper the side in the second Test against the West Indies starting today in the absence of regular captain Pat Cummins after his leadership bad was rescinded by CA officials last summer.

FIRST BALL IS AT 3PM AEDT

And Clarke says Warner has every right to be frustrated by a process that seems to have one rule for some and another for others.

Warner has given up on attempts to overturn his leadership ban, saying he did not want to put his family through further public humiliation after alleging counsel assisting the independent panel assembled for a hearing had made “offensive” comments in the process.

Speaking on Sky Racing Radio’s Big Sports Breakfast, Clarke said Warner had not missed with his comments on Wednesday night but he could understand his former teammate’s frustration.

“You can tell he’s disappointed and frustrated,” Clarke said.

“ I think the other thing that probably hurts a little bit more is the fact Steve Smith is going to captain this Test match.

“I can understand Davey’s disappointment. In regards to where Davey is with his age, he’s unfortunately missed out on the captaincy opportunity in my opinion.

“I don’t think that’s the concern, it’s the fact it’s taken so long to process this or to get to where it’s at.

“I see it as very inconsistent. I find it very hard to believe it’s okay for one but not okay for the other to have a leadership role.

“If CA decided all the guys involved in what went down in South Africa, none of them were going to play a leadership role, I think that’s a fair call.

“But if it’s okay for one, if it’s okay for Smithy, it’s got to be ok for (Cameron) Bancroft and it’s got to be okay for Warner.”

Warner had objected to the idea the panel set to hear the appeal of his leadership ban demanding he be subject to a public cross examination when matters are usually conducted privately.

The father of three young daughters said his family was more important that cricket and said he was “not prepared for my family to be the washing machine for cricket’s dirty laundry”.

Clarke was unsure whether any of the players involved should be involved in leadership positions but was adamant Warner should not carry the can alone.

“I don’t know if it’s fair to make David Warner the complete scapegoat and say everyone else can go back to normal,” Clarke said.

“We’ll forgive you but we won’t forgive Davey. I’m not sure any of them should be involved in a leadership role.”

“It’s a tough one for Davey to swallow, rules in place for him and not for the others.”

The rehashing of the Sandpapergate incident was another blow for the sport in a summer in which fans seem disenchanted with the national team.

“It’s the last thing cricket needed,” Clarke said.

“This just adds the fuel to the fire as to why the fans are peed off. This is just going to polarize. Just negative press again for cricket. What is happening with Cricket Australia?”

Clarke said he could understand Warner’s frustration with a national body keen to “wipe their hands” of the matter.

“This is the part that makes it hard. The leadership has now swapped hands – different CEO, different high performance manager, different head coach.

“Because it’s all changed, it’s easy for CA to say we’re not going back there. Decisions were made from a different board. Easy to wipe their hands of it. That’s why I understand Davey’s frustration, I really do.”

As much as people – Warner included – wanted Sandpapergate to fade into the past though, Clarke said it would continue to be a topic until the full story came out.

“There’s so much around how that was handled that was just not the right way,” Clarke said.

“Starting from doing the crime – let’s start there. How does it go away, don’t say anything.

“(Former South African captain) Faf du Plessis just wrote a book and it’s in his book.

“The fact that there’s (only) bits and pieces of what went down is out there to protect so many people is the problem with all of this.

“If they want to make it public, the whole lot should be made public from start to finish. If it keeps coming up how do you move on? How does cricket move on?

“Unfortunately for this Australian team, a lot of players that were involved then are involved now. So really it seems that until they retire this is just going to keep coming up because there’s so many questions around what went down.”

EXCLUSIVE CLUB: WILL STARC SILENCE CRITICS FOR GOOD?

Mitchell Starc needs nine wickets to cross the threshold to what history often decrees as the absolute elite level of fast bowlers.

The 300-wicket milestone is a mark that many Australian fast bowling giants failed to reach, like Craig McDermott, Jeff Thomson, Jason Gillespie and Merv Hughes and it’s now on the offing for Starc to achieve in Adelaide if he can replicate his best ever return from a pink ball Test.

Stand-in Australian captain Steve Smith has played alongside Starc his entire career and believes the left-arm prince of the pink ball is actually a better bowler at 32 than he was as a young tearaway.

To get to 300 wickets, as a rule you would have had to play 70 Tests, and for any fast bowler that level of longevity in itself is a mighty effort.

For that reason, 300 is often seen as the mark that separates the very good from the greats.

Starc is on 291 wickets as he enters his 73rd Test, and he is now within touching distance of joining Glenn McGrath, Dennis Lilliee, Mitchell Johnson and Brett Lee as only the fifth Australian fast bowler to pass 300.

After he passes the magic number, only 55 wickets will separate Starc from Lillee (355) and being Australia’s No.2 fast bowling wicket-taker after the untouchable McGrath (563).

It will be an exceptional achievement, and one that hasn’t come by accident. Starc has sacrificed upwards of $10-15 million dollars to bypass the Indian Premier League’s riches for the past seven years in order to refresh and fortify his body for the format he values above all others – Test cricket.

Starc’s best ever match-figures in a pink ball match was nine wickets against New Zealand in Perth in 2019, but he took eight against England in Adelaide in 2017, seven in Brisbane against Pakistan in 2016 and two more six-wicket hauls in Adelaide, including last year’s Ashes, to prove beyond any doubt that big bags with the pink ball is very much the norm.

From 10 pink ball Tests, Starc has a staggering 56 wickets at just 18.41.

The irony being of course, Starc was originally one of the most vocal critics of the switch to day-night Test cricket.

Smith indicated he would not be surprised if Starc reached 300 in one go in Adelaide, with more tricks up his sleeve than ever before.

“I think he’s improved a lot last few years. He’s got some different balls up his sleeve now. He bowls that wobble seam across the right hander quite a bit and back into the leftie which has been beneficial on wickets that are offering a bit of seam movement,” said Smith.

“And then with the new ball he’s got the ability to swing it back down the line to the right hander.

“Anyone that bowls left arm and above 140km/h an hour they’re a pretty good asset to any team.

“Starcy, his record in pink ball cricket is exceptional and hopefully he can have another good week this week.”

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