Australia and West Indies have both been hit by a series of injuries the day before the third Test in Perth, with Peter Siddle ruled out, Shivnarine Chanderpaul and Adrian Barath unlikely, and Nathan Hauritz also in doubt. The problems have left Australia with one confirmed debutant, the Victoria fast bowler Clint McKay, who will replace his state team-mate Siddle.
Siddle was under a cloud during the week after suffering a strain to his left hamstring in Adelaide and on Tuesday he woke up with some soreness following a lengthy spell in the WACA nets the previous day. It was enough for the Australians to err on the side of caution and Siddle, who will fly home to Melbourne, will aim to be available for the Boxing Day Test against Pakistan.
"The deal was that for him to come up here and play this game it would have to be a seamless period and have no pain, no stiffness, no feeling at all of anything wrong," Australia's physio Alex Kountouris said. "He bowled yesterday and this morning he woke up and it's a little bit stiff."
It means a definite debut for McKay, while the Tasmania fast bowler Brett Geeves, who was added as a 13th man in the squad, is also a chance to play if Hauritz fails to recover from a finger injury. Hauritz took a blow to the finger while fielding at training on Tuesday and although he did bowl afterwards, he suffered some soreness and will not know his fate until the morning of the match.
The selectors are considering flying in an extra spinner as cover, and their options will include Jason Krejza, who last year struggled against South Africa at the WACA and duly lost his place. However, Ricky Ponting said such a replacement would not necessarily step straight into the starting line-up.
"There'll be a chance of that," Ponting said of a four-man pace attack. "Geeves flew in last night and trained with us this morning. There'll be that possibility but I've said for a while it's always my preference to go into a Test match with a specialist spin bowler but we'll wait and see what happens."
West Indies are likely to have two changes with the key batsmen Chanderpaul and Barath both in serious doubt. Chanderpaul is still struggling with a finger problem after being struck on the hand in Adelaide, while Barath hurt his hamstring during the second Test. Travis Dowlin is expected to come in and open with Chris Gayle in place of Barath, while Chanderpaul's spot is likely to be taken by Narsingh Deonarine.
"It's not looking too good but we'll see what happens tomorrow," Gayle said. "Those two guys are the worry for us right now. It's a big blow going into the final Test match but having said that whoever gets that opportunity, hopefully they will make the best use of it."
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