IANS/Geelong (Australia)


West Indies head coach Phil Simmons has promised a fightback from his team when they face-off against Australia in the second Test match starting on Boxing Day in Melbourne.
The Windies lost the series opener by an innings and 212 runs but have regrouped and will be looking to make amends in the second match, as they try to make up for their disappointing showing in Hobart last week, reports CMC. Simmons told reporters the Windies had reflected, analysed where they had gone wrong and were now anxious to show their quality.
“The guys sat down and they know exactly what they have to do and they know that they’re capable of doing it. It’s not like it’s out of their league,” Simmons said on Wednesday.
“I’m looking forward to this next one. You saw the way how Darren Bravo played in the first innings, with a well compiled century, and the way Kraigg Brathwaite played in the second innings, he was solid and played strokes all around the wicket. That’s what we need more of, that kind of determination.”
He was speaking at the Simonds Stadium here as the West Indies held a training session on Wednesday afternoon, ahead of their two-day tour match against Cricket Victoria XI starting Saturday.
From here, they will take the one-hour drive to Melbourne to start preparations for the Boxing Day (December 26) contest.
Simmons said both the batting and bowling departments needed to prove their worth.“The bowlers have been good in the last four or five Test matches - they weren’t good in the last one - and the batting has let us down quite a bit,” Simmons noted.
 “The batting is at the point that we need to prove that we are as good as we’re made out to be. They’re good players, we know they can play at this level and it’s up to them to come out now and show everybody that they’re back in good nick.”

‘Khawaja’s form demands immediate recall’
Australia’s selector Mark Waugh yesterday said batsman Usman Khawaja will return to the playing XI against the West Indies for the Boxing Day Test match if he recovers from a hamstring injury. Waugh, however, added that no final decision had been made, but feels Khawaja’s form prior to his injury demands an immediate recall.
“If Usman is fit, assuming he is, he’s got to come back in,” Waugh was quoted as saying by Cricket Australia’s website.
“That’s not nailed down, but he has two hundreds in his last two Test matches, so you’d imagine he comes back in.”
Khawaja will be playing for the Sydney Thunder in a Big Bash T20 league match on Sunday where his fitness will be scrutinised intensely. If he shows satisfactory fitness levels, the selectors will face the choice to stick or twist with an opener to partner David Warner.
“So it’s probably a shootout between Joe Burns and Shaun Marsh,” Waugh added.
“Someone will be very unlucky, but it’s a good position to be in, we’ve got lots of good players there now scoring
runs. “It’s going to be tough on one of those guys.” The 28-year-old has been named in the 13-man Test squad for the Boxing Day.