Written-off Windies will target Aussie batting weaknesses

The West Indies will target perceived weaknesses in Australia's middle-order batting and aim to play aggressive but smart cricket during their tour of the country, skipper Jason Holder said Monday.

The tourists have been largely written off as a serious challenge to Steve Smith's team after losing 2-0 to Australia at home in June and 2-0 in Sri Lanka in October.

The one-time great West Indies are currently a lowly eighth in the ICC's Test rankings, above only Bangladesh and Zimbabwe, while Australia are second.

But Holder said his young and untried team would be confident and competitive in the three-Test series  beginning in Hobart on December 10.

Although impressed by Australia's 2-0 series win over New Zealand in November, Holder looked to identify what he believes are their batting fragilities.
The 24-year-old all-rounder said the tourists would target Shaun Marsh and also attack his all-rounder brother Mitch and Adam Voges in Australia's middle order.

"We've seen weaknesses we can exploit," he told his team's first media conference since arriving in Australia.

"They have some in-form batsmen like David Warner and Steve Smith so it's important we put pressure on the middle order.

"If we can get some early wickets with the new ball we can get guys like Shaun Marsh, who are trying to make their way back into the side, and put them under some pressure to score.

"Once we do that then it should be a relatively competitive series."

Holder said the new-ball attack led by Jerome Taylor and Kemar Roach would be advised on tour by Windies pace legends Courtney Walsh and Curtly Ambrose, who captured a combined 924 Test wickets in their stellar careers.
Walsh is a travelling tour selector while Ambrose is a bowling consultant for the Windies team.

Holder said their experience, achievements and wealth of knowledge would inspire his team.

But he said it would not be sheer pace and bravado that would blast out the Australian top order, as both Walsh and Ambrose did in their heyday.

"Not only do we have the pace but I think we have bowlers to extract the movement," Holder said.

"One of the crucial things in this series is to extract some movement. We have to be skilful."

The Windies have stayed with the same squad which was well beaten in Sri Lanka.

Holder has enjoyed just one victory in his 10-Test career -- against England this year.

He said the fallen giants of world cricket were aiming for steady improvement and consistency rather than "two steps forward and four back".

But they still have a strong belief in a series upset.

"We don't just come with some belief. We've come with a lot of belief," he said.

"We have to play aggressive cricket and we have to play smart cricket."

A tour warm-up match against a Cricket Australia XI starts in Brisbane on Wednesday.
Source: AFP