West Indies v Australia: Second Test preview

Having won the first Test of three by 159 runs, Australia will be hoping to wrap up a series win by claiming victory in the second Test in Grenada, which gets underway as Thursday turns into Friday.

The National Cricket Stadium in St George's is the venue for the second match and the Baggy Green are set to be boosted by the return from injury of middle-order superstar Steven Smith, while left-arm pace ace Mitchell Starc is poised to earn his 99th Test cap.

The hosts put up a strong fight in the series opener in Barbados, but have concerns over their batting line-up struggling to cope with the world-class Australian bowling line-up.

West Indies v Australia betting preview

Batting woes a worry for Windies

The first Test was a tale of two halves for the West Indies, with their bowlers causing the Australia batters plenty of problems, while their own batters were unable to get on top of the all-star quartet of skipper Pat Cummins, Starc, Josh Hazlewood and Nathan Lyon.

Bowled out for 190 and 141, it is clear where the Windies' main problem lies, with the returning Shai Hope's 48 in the first innings the top individual score of the match for the home side.

Hope batted at seven and six in his two knocks and the hosts may be tempted to push him a little higher in the order to try and utilise his wealth of experience, while being wary of him also having wicketkeeping duties to perform.

Right-hander Hope can be backed at 1.83 to make more than 42.5 match runs, while he is 2.75 to make more than 70 match runs.

With the ball the Windies fared better in Barbados, with Shamar Joseph leading the way with nine wickets in the match, while Jayden Seales completed a first-innings five-for and ended with six wickets in the match.

Seales is priced at 1.90 to take over 3.5 match wickets in Grenada, while is available at 3.25 to take more than five wickets in the match.

Smith set to slot in at four

With the Baggy Green already ahead in the three-match series, head coach Andrew McDonald is set to have the luxury of having a fit Steven Smith to restore to the batting line-up, while the bowling attack takes care of itself.

Smith is likely to slot back in at number four, with Josh Inglis the player to make way after making 5 and 12 at the Kensington Oval, while Sam Konstas is set to continue at the top of the order despite innings of 3 and 5 in Barbados.

Australia have the option of batting Smith at three, with all-rounder Cameron Green having scored 3 and 15 in the first Test, but McDonald has dropped a major hint that changes will be kept to a minimum for Grenada.

Smith has an astonishing Test average of 124.57 against the Windies, having racked up 872 in nine previous Test outings against the men from the Caribbean, making three centuries, including one double.

He can be backed at 3.60 to be the top first innings batter in the second Test, while left-hander Travis Head is a 4.33 option in the same market, having been the best batter in the first Test with fluent knocks of 59 and 61.

Pacer Hazlewood was the leading Australia bowler in Barbados, with his overall record against the Windies reading 43 wickets in nine matches at an average of a mere 15.13.

Right-arm quick Hazlewood is 1.83 to take over 4.5 wickets in the second Test, leaving him just behind captain Cummins who is at 1.72.

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West Indies v Australia odds

West Indies - 5.50
Australia - 1.30
Draw - 9.50

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This article was written by a partner sports writer via Spotlight Sports Group. All odds displayed on this page were correct at the time of writing and are subject to withdrawal or change at any time.