Aussies lap up Bajan experience amid Kensington Oval dominance

The Australian squad had barely set foot in their team hotel in Barbados on Wednesday when the call went around to "check out" a local burger joint for lunch.

Australia haven't played a Test in Barbados in 13 years but that burger joint – Cuzz's Fish Stand – has become a popular eatery for the Aussie side on various white-ball tours since, including during last year's T20 World Cup.

With their World Test Championship final defeat in the rearview mirror, Pat Cummins' side kick off the new two-year cycle at the eastern Caribbean island's Kensington Oval, which has become a happy hunting ground for touring Australians over the years.

The T20 team won both their games at the famed Bridgetown venue during last year's World Cup, while the Test side has only lost once in 30 years after going winless in their first six Barbados Tests prior to 1995.

But Australia will be leaning on the experience of spinner Nathan Lyon – the sole member of the squad remaining from that 2012 Test at Kensington Oval – as they seek to keep their strong recent record intact, as well as assistant Matthew Wade, who made his Test debut in that match and has joined the coaching staff for the tour with Daniel Vettori returning home for family reasons following the WTC final.

Alongside Lyon, only Steve Smith, Josh Hazlewood and Mitchell Starc have prior red-ball experience in the Caribbean, while more than a third of the 16-man squad – Sam Konstas, Marnus Labuschagne, Cameron Green, Beau Webster, Matthew Kuhnemann and Sean Abbott – have never played in the West Indies.

However, Starc has a great record at Kensington Oval despite never playing a Test there, with 16 wickets at an average of 16 in six one-day internationals at two T20Is, while Hazlewood has 12 at 14 in five one-dayers and two T20Is, with Smith (78 v WI in 2016) and Alex Carey (67 v WI in 2021) also hitting ODI half-centuries at the Bridgetown venue.

Test skipper Cummins, whose only previous appearance at Kensington Oval yielded 2-23 against England in last year's T20 event, said the West Indies tour presented an ideal opportunity to get early 2025-27 WTC points on the board away from home.

"That's one of the good things about the World Test Championship – every Test series and Test match feels like you're playing for something significant," he said last Saturday following Australia's five-wicket loss to South Africa at Lord's.

"In some ways, it's good that we get to dust ourselves off and turn around in a couple of weeks and start looking ahead to the next one.

"To make (WTC) finals it's normally off the back of being really strong at home but you've got to win some away series, and we get (a chance) to do that straight away."

So, with Australia's first Test tour in a decade set to get underway in Barbados on Wednesday (midnight Thursday AEST), let's look back at their past five Tests at their favoured Kensington Oval, where if history is anything to go by, we could be in for a cracking contest:

First Test – April 7-11, 2012

West Indies won the toss and decided to bat

 

West Indies: 9(dec)-449 (Chanderpaul 103, Harris 2-83) and 148 (Hilfenhaus 4-27, Harris 3-31)

 

Australia: 9(dec)-406 (Clarke 73, Roach 3-72) and 7-192 (Watson 52)

 

Australia won by three wickets

Half-centuries to three of the Windies' top four and an unbeaten 248-ball 103 by No.5 Shivnarine Chanderpaul put the hosts in control of the first Test in 2012, and Australia chances of victory appeared slim when they began day four still more than 200 runs behind. But a fantastic lower-order rearguard by Ryan Harris (68no), Ben Hilfenhaus (24) and Nathan Lyon (40no) lifted the Aussies within 43 runs of parity when skipper Michael Clarke declared behind just before tea on the fourth day.

Hilfenhaus (4-27) had the West Indies three down at the tea break in just the fifth over as fellow quicks Harris (3-31) and Peter Siddle (2-32) helped run through the rest of the order to roll the hosts for 148 in their second innings by lunch on day five. Needing 192 in two sessions to win, Shane Watson hit a half-century and Ed Cowan (34) and Mike Hussey (32) chipped in before Harris (4no) and Hilfenhaus (2no) scamped a single and survived a tense run out review to see Australia home in 47 overs with only minutes to spare as the shadows lengthened across Kensington Oval.

Third Test – June 12-16, 2008

West Indies won the toss and decided to bowl

 

Australia: 251 (Symonds 52, Taylor 3-46, Edwards 3-55) and 5(dec)-439 (Katich 157, Jaques 108)

 

West Indies: 216 (Chanderpaul 79no, Johnson 4-41, Lee 3-64) and 387 (Marshall 84, Clark 3-58, Casson 3-86)

 

Australia won by 87 runs

Australia would have felt fairly comfortable when Ricky Ponting declared at lunch on day four to set the hosts 475 to win across the game's final five sessions. However, with the pitch better for batting in the second innings than the first, the Windies went to bed that night an outside chance of victory only three wickets down with 240 runs to get.

Dwayne Bravo (69) and Shivnarine Chanderpaul (50) kept Australia sweating on day five as they put on 122 for the fourth wicket. But when both fell in the space of four balls to one-Test spinner Beau Casson (3-86) and Stuart Clark (3-58), the end came quickly as the West Indies fell 88 runs short.

Three-wicket hauls to seamers Fidel Edwards, Jerome Taylor and Bravo held the visitors in check in the first innings with only Andrew Symonds passing 50, before Mitchell Johnson's 4-41 gave Australia a first innings lead of 35. Openers Simon Katich (157) and Phil Jaques (108) then took the game away from the West Indies with a first-wicket stand of 223 to set up the declaration. "There's been some great Test cricket played and West Indies, the way they attacked the run chase showed a lot of heart and character," Ponting said during the post-match presentation.

Third Test – May 1-5, 2003

West Indies won the toss and decided to bowl

 

Australia: 9(dec)-605 (S Waugh 115, Ponting 113, Lawson 3-131) and 1-8 (Lehmann 4no, Lawson 1-2)

 

West Indies: 328 (Gayle 71, MacGill 4-107, Gillespie 3-31) and 284 (f/o) (Sarwan 58, MacGill 5-75, Lee 2-44)

 

Australia won by nine wickets

With all of Australia's top seven except opener Matthew Hayden (27) passing half-centuries after being sent in, and Ricky Ponting (113) and Steve Waugh (115) hitting tons while Darren Lehmann (96) fell just short, the visitors were always in command of the third Test in 2003 after amassing 9(dec)-605.

With Shane Warne serving a one-year ban after testing positive for a diuretic, leg-spinner Stuart MacGill (4-107 and 5-75) ran through the West Indies in both innings after they were asked to follow on by Waugh. Australia were left needing just eight runs to win, but that was still enough time for Jermaine Lawson to dismiss Justin Langer lbw first ball and complete a remarkable hat-trick across both innings after claiming Brett Lee and MacGill in consecutive balls before Waugh declared the visitors' first innings nine down. Lehmann (4no) then hit the winning runs in the third over as Australia took a 3-0 lead in the four-match series.

Third Test – March 26-30, 1999

Australia won the toss and decided to bat

 

Australia: 490 (S Waugh 199, Ponting 104, Perry 3-102) and 146 (Warne 32, Walsh 5-39, Collins 2-31)

 

West Indies: 329 (Campbell 105, McGrath 4-128, Gillespie 3-48) and 9-311 (Lara 153no, McGrath 5-92, Gillespie 3-62)

 

West Indies won by one wicket

There were some remarkable individual performances in the third Test of the epic 1999 series that was drawn 2-2, but this match belonged to Brian Lara. The Windies maestro slammed an incredible unbeaten 153 on the final day at Kensington Oval to lead his side to a thrilling one-wicket win late in the final session.

After skipper Steve Waugh scored 199 and Ricky Ponting 104, Glenn McGrath (4-128) and Jason Gillespie (3-48) combined for seven wickets to give Australia a 161-run lead entering the second innings. Legendary paceman Courtney Walsh then ripped through the tourists with 5-39 to give the Windies a sniff of victory with 308 required, before Lara's solo show carried them home with a knock Wisden would later rate as the second-best innings in the history of Test cricket.

McGrath (5-92) and Gillespie (3-62) earlier combined to reduce the hosts to 5-105, but Lara proved immovable, securing the famous win with his 19th boundary after Walsh – a well-known batting bunny with a record 43 ducks in Test cricket – survived five nerve-racking deliveries to help his skipper get them home in a nine-run final-wicket stand.

First Test – March 31-April 2, 1995

West Indies won the toss and decided to bat

 

West Indies: 195 (Lara 65, Julian 4-36, McGrath 3-46) and 189 (Adams 39no, McGrath 5-68, Warne 3-64)

 

Australia: 346 (Healy 74, S Waugh 65, Benjamin 3-71) and 0-39 (Slater 20no, Taylor 16no)

 

Australia won by 10 wickets

The 1995 series is best remembered for Australia unofficially bringing to an end the West Indies' 15-year dominance of world cricket, reclaiming the Frank Worrell Trophy for the first time in almost two decades, silverware which they haven't surrendered since. And Australia's 10-wicket triumph in Barbados – a venue where they had never won a Test in six previous attempts – set the tone for breakthrough series as Brendon Julian (4-36) and Glenn McGrath (3-46) combined to rout the West Indies for 195 on the opening day.

Julian wasn't even supposed to be playing, called up to the tour late following a shoulder injury to Damien Fleming before Craig McDermott rolled his ankle while going for a run after a warm-up match in Guyana. But the left-armer took two of the first three wickets to have the Windies on the ropes at 3-6 early as skipper Mark Taylor (55), Steve Waugh (65) and wicketkeeper Ian Healy (74no) each hit half-centuries, while a cameo from No.8 Julian (31) helped push Australia's first-innings lead to 151.

McGrath (5-68) ran through the hosts again in the second innings, ably assisted by Shane Warne (3-64), leaving he Aussies 39 to win to wrap up the contest inside three days, which openers Taylor and Michael Slater managed comfortably in the seventh over.

"The winning run was an extra," Taylor recalled to cricket.com.au for the 25th anniversary of the series in 2020. "I was facing and it was a no-ball. I remember grabbing a couple of stumps and racing off the field as the crowd came running onto the ground. A bloke tried to grab the stumps off me and he got a bit of a whack in the shin with my bat."

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