West Indies skipper Kraigg Brathwaite confirms debut of Tagenarine Chanderpaul in 1st Test against Australia

Perth [Australia], November 29 : Ahead of his side's first Test against Australia in Perth, West Indies skipper Kraigg Brathwaite confirmed that Tagenarine Chanderpaul, the son of legendary batter Shivnarine Chanderpaul, would be making his Test debut after posting impressive scores of 119 and 56 during the practice match against Prime Minister's XI in Canberra.
Australia and West Indies will begin their two-match Test series at the Perth Stadium in Perth.
"He will do extremely well at this higher level. Brathwaite was quoted as saying by ESPNCricinfo, who has played 18 Tests with the batter in the early days of his career.
"He has a lot of patience, and a good defence. He was an example for us in the first game, and we take a leaf out of his book for the series. I think Tag will do a fantastic job, and let us hope he can do even greater things than his father," he added.
Twelve millimeters of grass is left on the stadium pitch for the first Test, with head curator Issac McDonald tipping "good pace and bounce" from the surface.
Both sides have great pace attacks. There is also a notion of visitors' batting crumbling against Aussie pacers at this ground. Aussies have dominated their previous two Test matches at this venue, one against India in 2018 and the other against New Zealand in 2019. But the WI skipper wants to defy these expectations.
"We want to bat [for] 100 overs, the main focus is to have discipline," he told reporters. "We have batsmen that can get on with it, so it is not to stop them. It is for them to do the processes throughout the entire innings. It is not to change anyone's game."
"I think [batting] time is always great to have in Test cricket... to believe they can do it. We know Australia is a superior team. We have to play ten days of hard cricket, that is our main focus," he added.
The skipper also confirmed that middle-order batter Jermaine Blackwood will be playing the Perth Test, despite experiencing a nasty blow to the head during training on Monday and also that pacer Jayden Seales had recovered from his knee issues.
But the visitors will be without the services of their all-rounder Raymon Reifer as he is suffering from a groin injury. He could miss out the first Test at least, with the final playing eleven undecided as of yet.
After moving in direction of red-ball cricket renaissance with wins at home against England and Bangladesh earlier in the year, the Windies are looking to break their victory drought Down Under, where they have not won a match in longer format since 1997. The side aims to turn back the clock to the 90s, when the series between these two sides, contested as Frank Worrell Trophy used to be a fiercely contested marquee event.
"We know Test cricket is real cricket," Brathwaite said. "As a team, we want to do well for the Caribbean, and want youngsters to play Test cricket for West Indies. Obviously, we were great in the past, and we use it as motivation to get to that level. If we stick together as a group, we can improve and get to those great levels."
The skipper hopes that a good series would lead to more regular matches between these two sides, with their previous Test coming in 2015-16. Since then, they have played 12 Tests against England.
"We play England quite often... once we play more [against Australia] often, I think it would be much better," Brathwaite said. "Playing Australia quite often would be good for us to challenge ourselves against one of the best teams in the world. We are aiming to get back to that standard, but this trophy still means a lot to us," signed off Brathwaite.