Warrican: Smith’s absence no advantage for Windies

West Indies vice-captain Jomel Warrican isn’t heartened by the news that Australia will be without their world class batsman Steve Smith when the opening Test match between the two teams bowls off here next Wednesday.

News broke on Thursday that the 36-year-old Smith will miss the first Test at Kensington Oval after sustaining a finger injury in the World Test Championship Final against South Africa last week.

However, it is hoped that Smith, who averages a remarkable 56.55 in 117 Test matches, inclusive of 36 centuries and 42 half centuries, will be fit to play in the second match that starts Grenada from July 3.

Josh Inglis and Sam Konstas have been named as replacements for Smith and Marnus Labuschagne, who has been dropped from the team.

Speaking to the media following a training session at Kensington Oval on Thursday, Warrican said Australia, the number one ranked Test team in the world, had a plethora of quality batsmen other than Smith.

He said even in Smith’s absence, the eighth ranked West Indies would still have their work cut out.

“You still have to take every player seriously, so yes while Steve Smith will be a big miss for Australia, we have to make sure that we take every batsman or whoever replaces him just as serious as him,” Warrican said.

The left-arm spinner said preparations for the upcoming series, which marks the start of the World Test Championship 2027 cycle, had been going smoothly.

He said with Australia expected to rely heavily on pace, the batsmen had been paying special focus to playing fast bowling.

“The guys are putting in their work and we’re working extremely hard as a unit.

“We have the white-ball guys that have now joined the team so we’re gelling well as a unit and we’re working on our skills whether it be batting, bowling or fielding,” Warrican said.

“We’ve been going through some match scenarios as close as possible to the game, so batting two new balls and against seam consistently. We know that Australia will be coming with a lot of pace against us, so the guys have been preparing for that very well.” (CMC)

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