Snail Paced 1st Day at Queen's Park between Aussies and Windies

Australia and the West Indies shared the honours on a slow opening day in the second Test at Queen's Park Oval in Trinidad on Sunday.

When stumps were drawn, both teams retreated to the dressing room satisfied but not elated after a tough day in the Caribbean sun.

The Australians had 208 runs on the board but West Indies had five wickets. Last week's first test in Barbados was a thriller which Australia won by three wickets and already the second test looks like being another close encounter.

The revival of West Indies cricket has been slowly gathering momentum in the past two years and on Sunday it was their slow bowlers who did most of the damage.

Read details: IOL Sport

2nd Test: West Indies v Australia -Watch Live Online 15-19 April 2012

The first test between the Windies and the Aussies was a shocker for the hosts. Having set a formidable and imposing target of 449 in the first innings, the hosts thought the tourists would succumb to their upper hand - but the hosts were completely taken by surprise as the Aussies turned the table so swiftly and masterly that a winning match by hosts turned into a miserable defeat.

The seond test, thus is very crucial for the Windies if they really want to save face at the hands of the tourists. For this they will have to be consistant, more disciplined to fight out till the end. A seemingly easy victory should not make them relaxed to an extent that they enter the red zone as they did in the first test.

The centre of Windies pillar of strenght is again likely to be Shivnarine Chanderpaul, whose 103 made his team reach a winnable target of 449 in the first innings. Other than he, Darren Bravo should be another player worthy of trust who scored 51 and 32 in the first test.

As for the tourists, they have had a good experince back home beating back the visiting Indians and Lankans. The Aussies ahve an impressive batting line. Shane Watson, David Warner and Ed Cowan have played very well in the first test, besides captain Clarke and Hussey - the two reliable and mature batsmen. Likewise, their bowlers are also too good, specially Ryan Harris and Ben Hilfenhaus.

The Queen's Park pitch is said to be spin-friendly and a careful selection and employment of spinners at the right moments can provide just the right kind of desired results.

The only odds are the expected rain and thunderstorms which may interrupt the play and cause delays and break the momentum of the game.

The likely XIs from both ends may include:

West Indies: 1 Adrian Barath, 2 Kraigg Brathwaite, 3 Kirk Edwards (vice-captain), 4 Darren Bravo, 5 Shivnarine Chanderpaul , 6  Narsingh Deonarine, 7 Carlton Baugh (wicket-keeper), 8 Darren Sammy (captain), 9 Kemar Roach, 10 Fidel Edwards, 11 Devendra Bishoo/ Shane Shillingford

Australia: 1 Ed Cowan, 2 David Warner, 3 Shane Watson (vice-captain), 4 Ricky Ponting, 5 Michael Clarke (captain), 6 Michael Hussey, 7 Matthew Wade (wicket-keeper), 8 Peter Siddle, 9 Ryan Harris, 10 Ben Hilfenhaus, 11 Nathan Lyon/Michael Beer

Venue: Queen's Park Oval, Port of Spain, Trinidad

Schduled time: 10:00 Local | 14:00 GMT | 19:00 PKT

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