Aussies forced into squad change for Caribbean Test tour

Australia have been forced into a squad change for their upcoming three-Test tour of the Caribbean with Sean Abbott called up to replace injured quick Brendan Doggett.

Doggett, Australia's travelling reserve for the World Test Championship final, is headed back home after picking up a minor hip issue.

The uncapped 31-year-old was also set to be part of the squad to face the West Indies after claiming the best ever match figures in Sheffield Shield final history (11-140) to lift South Australia to a drought-breaking title last season.

Doggett was also part of the squad ahead of the last summer's second Border-Gavaskar Trophy Test in what marked his return to the Australian squad for the first time since 2018.

Abbott rejoins the Test squad after also being part of the group that toured Sri Lanka earlier this year.

The 33-year-old right-armer collected 6-99 in his last first-class match for NSW in March, ending the Sheffield Shield season with 19 wickets at 21.94 in three matches. His only game since was a T20 for Quetta Gladiators in the Pakistan Super League.

Australia could yet face more changes for the West Indies tour as they sweat on the fitness of Steve Smith after he dislocated his finger while fielding at slip on day three of the WTC final loss to South Africa.

Smith avoided surgery and will travel to Caribbean but will be required to keep his right little finger in a splint for up to eight weeks following the compound dislocation.

The wound should heal in two weeks, and he could play sooner than initially thought if he can tolerate wearing a splint while batting.

"Fortunately, there's no break there, it just split the skin, which dislocated it and made me feel pretty ill at that stage," Smith said at Lord's after the WTC final.

"But in a splint for eight weeks now and I may be able to play with it in a couple of weeks.

"It'll depend on my functionality and what I'm able to do, but it's probably the best result I could have hoped for."

Australian coach Andrew McDonald said they would assess whether Smith was capable of batting with the split on before making a call on potential changes to the squad.

"If Steve wasn't available for the first Test match, that would lend itself to having extra batting coverage," he said.

"Because if we lost another player, then we'd be short in terms of what we had on the bench and available."

Opener Sam Konstas and Josh Inglis, who scored a 90-ball century on debut against Sri Lanka in January, are the batters in the squad that didn't play in the WTC decider.

The first Test against the West Indies gets underway in 10 days' time in Barbados on June 25.

Qantas Tour of the West Indies

First Test: June 25-29, Bridgetown, Barbados (midnight AEST)

Second Test: July 3-7, St George's, Grenada (midnight AEST)

Third Test: July 12-16, Kingston, Jamaica (4.30am AEST)

Australia Test squad: Pat Cummins (c), Sean Abbott, Scott Boland, Alex Carey, Cameron Green, Josh Hazlewood, Travis Head, Josh Inglis, Usman Khawaja, Sam Konstas, Matt Kuhnemann, Marnus Labuschagne, Nathan Lyon, Steve Smith, Mitchell Starc, Beau Webster

West Indies Test squad: Roston Chase (c), Jomel Warrican (vc), Kevlon Anderson, Kraigg Brathwaite, John Campbell, Keacy Carty, Justin Greaves, Shai Hope, Tevin Imlach, Alzarri Joseph, Shamar Joseph, Brandon King, Johann Layne, Mikyle Louis, Anderson Phillip, Jayden Seales

First T20I: July 20, Kingston, Jamaica (July 21, 11am AEST)

Second T20I: July 22, Kingston, Jamaica (July 23, 11am AEST)

Third T20I: July 25, Basseterre, St Kitts (July 26, 9am AEST)

Fourth T20I: July 26, Basseterre, St Kitts (July 27, 9am AEST)

Fifth T20I: July 28, Basseterre, St Kitts (July 29, 9am AEST)

West Indies T20 squad: TBC

Australia's T20 squad: Mitchell Marsh (c), Sean Abbott, Cooper Connolly, Tim David, Ben Dwarshius, Nathan Ellis, Cameron Green, Aaron Hardie, Josh Hazlewood, Josh Inglis, Spencer Johnson, Matt Kuhnemann, Glenn Maxwell, Mitch Owen, Matthew Short, Adam Zampa