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Roseau - West Indies captain Denesh Ramdin won the toss and chose to bat against Australia on the opening day of the first Test of the two-match series at the Windsor Park Stadium in Dominica on Wednesday.
Both teams have included debutants in their squad with the West Indies introducing middle-order batsman Shane Dowrich, who actually plays for his native Barbados as a specialist wicketkeeper-batsman. He replaces Shivnarine Chanderpaul, whose 21-year international career came to an end after he was omitted following successive poor series in South Africa and at home to England.
At the age of 35, Adam Voges slots into the Australian middle-order as his country's 11th oldest Test debutant. His opportunity comes as opener Chris Rogers was ruled out of consideration for the match after showing symptoms of concussion following a blow on the helmet while batting in the nets on Sunday.
Amid speculation over team selection on what is expected to be a spin-friendly pitch, neither side has opted for a second specialist spinner with leg-break bowler Devendra Bishoo returning to the home side after missing the final Test against England last month with a finger injury.
Nathan Lyon, who played in Australia's last Test here in 2012, will be the tourists' frontline slow bowler for the match and needs four more wickets to surpass Hugh Trumble as his country's most successful off-spinner in Test cricket.
Teams:
West Indies
Denesh Ramdin (captain/wicketkeeper), Kraigg Brathwaite, Shai Hope, Darren Bravo, Marlon Samuels, Jermaine Blackwood, Shane Dowrich, Jason Holder, Jerome Taylor, Devendra Bishoo, Shannon Gabriel.
Australia
Michael Clarke (captain), David Warner, Shaun Marsh, Steve Smith, Adam Voges, Shane Watson, Brad Haddin (wicketkeeper), Mitchell Johnson, Mitchell Starc, Nathan Lyon, Josh Hazlewood.
Umpires: Aleem Dar (PAK), Richard Kettleborough (ENG)
TV Umpire: Ian Gould (ENG)
Match referee: Roshan Mahanama (SRI)
