Match facts

Tuesday, June 24
Start time 09:30 (local), 13:30 (GMT)

The Big Picture

Australia won the Test series, West Indies won the Twenty20 (or rather Eleven11) and now it's time for the final leg of the tour - a five-match ODI series. Australia are the world champions but things were different then: Matthew Hayden and Adam Gilchrist were opening, Glenn McGrath was the strike bowler and Brad Hogg had the spin position in reliable hands. Ricky Ponting doesn't have any of those men on hand in the Caribbean and as much as anything the series will act as a testing ground for a number of new faces. For West Indies, who challenged Australia in the Tests, these five matches provide an opportunity to assess whether their limited-overs prospects are also looking positive.

ODI form guide

West Indies - NWWLL (most recent first)
Australia - LLLWW

Team news

Chris Gayle played the third Test but did not risk his nagging groin injury by taking part in the Twenty20, Ramnaresh Sarwan also sat out of the short game with a groin problem and Shivnarine Chanderpaul rested his sore leg. Gayle will lead the team but a decision on the other two will be left until the morning of the match. Xavier Marshall blasted Australia's new-ball bowlers in the Twenty20 with 36 from 15 deliveries and if he gets going with Gayle at the top of the order Australia will be under severe early pressure.
West Indies (possible) 1 Chris Gayle (capt), 2 Xavier Marshall, 3 Ramnaresh Sarwan, 4 Shivnarine Chanderpaul, 5 Dwayne Bravo, 6 Kieron Pollard, 7 Denesh Ramdin (wk), 8 Darren Sammy, 9 Jerome Taylor, 10 Sulieman Benn, 11 Fidel Edwards.

Australia will regain two frontline players who missed the Twenty20 match, with Brad Haddin ready to return after resting his broken finger and Nathan Bracken in line for his first major match since having knee surgery in March. Andrew Symonds has not played since suffering back spasms during the third Test and, although his condition has improved considerably in the past few days, he will not be risked. Shane Watson has been successful in the opening role in the past and he will go out first once again, probably with Shaun Marsh, who will make his ODI debut. Cameron White might be asked to do more bowling than usual as Australia search for a new limited-overs spinner.

Australia 1 Shane Watson, 2 Shaun Marsh, 3 Ricky Ponting (capt), 4 Michael Clarke, 5 Michael Hussey, 6 Brad Haddin (wk), 7 Cameron White, 8 James Hopes, 9 Brett Lee, 10 Mitchell Johnson, 11 Nathan Bracken.

Watch out for ...

Dwayne Bravo His Twenty20 innings was overshadowed by Marshall's top-order fireworks but Bravo's unbeaten 28 from 15 balls was also highly entertaining. Always a powerful striker, Bravo has now added extra patience to his game and he will be an important middle-order player regardless of whether West Indies get away to a flyer or lose early wickets. His medium-pace bowling is equally vital and he has a happy knack of breaking through when the strike bowlers are failing.
Shane Watson It's more than a year since Watson played an ODI, his most recent being the World Cup final triumph in Barbados in April 2007. His already dodgy hamstring gave way again during the Australian summer and a lean patch on his domestic return left him out of consideration for the national team. That all changed after a powerful Indian Premier League stint and his 95 opening in the tour match in Barbados on Saturday confirmed he has carried that form to the 50-over format. Hayden is likely to return to the ODI setup for the Champions Trophy later this year and a strong Caribbean tour from Watson could put him first in line to be Hayden's opening partner.

Umpires Asad Rauf, Billy Doctrove.

Weather

There was a heavy shower at the ground on Monday afternoon that may affect the start time on Tuesday. After both teams had trained, strong winds knocked over some scaffolding in front of one of the stands and the pitch area, while covered, was full of puddles. A cloudy day is predicted for Tuesday.

Stats and trivia

If ever there was a venue to give West Indies a confident start to a series, the Arnos Vale Ground in St Vincent must be it. They have lost only two of the 16 ODIs played at the ground, although their most recent game was one of those defeats, at the hands of Pakistan. Australia have lost both their one-day internationals at the venue.
Symonds leaves a big all-round gap for Australia to fill. Apart from one-sided World Cup matches against minnows Scotland and the Netherlands, five of the past six times Australia have fielded a Symonds-less ODI side they have lost.

Quotes

"Do not forget that we are playing against the number one team in the world but from the next game we're going to be at full strength. Chris, Sarwan, Shiv, everyone will be ready to go."
Bravo, who led West Indies to victory in the Twenty20 international
"Their bowling group will be pretty steady for the one-dayers but in saying that our one-day side stacks up pretty well against most around the world. I'd expect us to win the series that's for sure."
Ponting believes Australia should get up in the five-match contest