AUS, SA in WI Tri-Series, 2016

Australia and South Africa are all set for their tour of the Caribbean where they will play a 10-match ODI tri-nation series with hosts West Indies. This will be the first time in the history of Caribbean cricket that all the fixtures in an ODI series are going to be day/night contests. The series will begin on June 3 with West Indies taking on South Africa and will conclude on June 26. The Providence Stadium in Guyana will host the first three games. The next three games will be played at the Warner Park in St Kitts and the last three at the Kensington Oval in Barbados which will also host the final match of the series. Cricket fans all over the world are looking forward to this fascinating tri-series and it will be interesting to see how the hosts fare against Australia and South Africa - two of the strongest cricket teams in the world.

Let’s take a look at the three teams that will be competing against each other in this tri-series…

West Indies

The hosts have announced their 14-man squad for the first four games of this upcoming series which includes two uncapped players who are yet to play for the West Indies in an ODI. One of them is Shannon Gabriel, a fast bowler who has 16 test matches under his belt. The other is Ashley Nurse, an off-spinner who featured in the West Indies squad that won the World T20 2016. Jason Holder will be leading the team and some of the key batsmen include Johnson Charles, Marlon Samuels, Darren Bravo and Kieron Pollard. Sunil Narine, Andre Fletcher, Jason Holder and Jerome Taylor will be the bowlers to watch out for.

Complete West Indies squad (first four matches only):

Jason Holder (c), Carlos Brathwaite, Jonathan Carter, Andre Fletcher, Sunil Narine, Kieron Pollard, Marlon Samuels, Sulieman Benn, Darren Bravo, Johnson Charles, Shannon Gabriel, Ashley Nurse, Denesh Ramdin and Jerome Taylor.

South Africa

The Proteas have come to the Caribbean with a 15-member squad led by AB de Villiers who has had a wonderful IPL season recently. The last time they were here in 2010, they clean-swept the West Indies in the 5-match ODI series as well won the two T20Is and the 3-test series 2-0. The two teams played their last ODI against each other in the 50-over World Cup in Australia last year where South Africa once again thrashed the Windies by 257 runs, the biggest defeat ever in World Cup history. A few players from South Africa who are expected to perform well in this series are Hashim Amla, AB de Villiers, Quinton de Kock, Imran Tahir, Morne Morkel and Kyle Abbott.

Complete South Africa squad:

AB de Villiers (c), Kyle Abbott, Farhaan Behardien, Faf du Plessis, Morne Morkel, Wayne Parnell, Kagiso Rabada, Tabraiz Shamsi, Hashim Amla, Quinton de Kock, Jean-Paul Duminy, Imran Tahir, Chris Morris, Aaron Phangiso and Rilee Rossouw.

Australia

Steve Smith will be in charge of the Australian team who will be coming with a 16-member squad. Their most recent limited-overs tour of the Caribbean dates back to March 2012 where they drew level the ODI series 2-2 and the T20 series 1-1 against the West Indies. Australia are currently the No. 1 ranked ODI team in the world as per the latest ICC cricket ratings and the world champions will be hard to beat in this series. However, there is one bad news for them as John Hastings has been ruled out of the series due to an ankle injury and has been replaced by Scott Boland. David Warner, George Bailey, Aaron Finch, James Faulkner, Mitchell Starc and Adam Zampa will be the key players for Australia.

Complete Australia squad:

Steven Smith (c), George Bailey, Nathan Coulter-Nile, Aaron Finch, Travis Head, Nathan Lyon, Glenn Maxwell, Matthew Wade, David Warner, Scott Boland, James Faulkner, Josh Hazlewood, Usman Khawaja, Mitchell Marsh, Mitchell Starc and Adam Zampa.