INSPITE OF the absence of the suspended Shane Warne and the pasting they took from two young batsmen in the opening tour match on Monday, captain Steve Waugh has hinted that both wrist spinners Brad Hogg and Stuart MacGill would be in Australia's eleven for the first Cable & Wireless Test, starting at Bourda tomorrow.
"You generally go into a Test picking four bowlers who you think will win the Test for you and if two of those bowlers are spinners, I don't see that being such a big deal," Waugh told reporters here.
It was an idea first mooted by former captain Mark Taylor when the touring team was announced.
Bourda is likely to produce its usual slow, low pitch that favours batsmen and is a heartbreak for fast bowlers. It was typical last season when it yielded totals of 501 by the West Indies and 395 for seven for India and individual scores of 233 by Carl Hooper, 140 by Shivnarine Chanderpaul and 144 not out by Rahul Dravid.
Waugh is clearly convinced that the mystery of back-of-the-hand spin is likelier to cause problems for the West Indies than pace. If he sticks to the plan to use both Hogg and MacGill, Jason Gillespie and Brett Lee would be the only fast bowlers in the eleven.
The captain made the point that Hogg's left-arm chinamen would be favoured as they spin away from the several left-handers in the West Indies team - captain Brian Lara, Shivnarine Chanderpaul, Wavell Hinds, Ridley Jacobs and newcomer Devon Smith.
Hogg had nine wickets for 135 and leg-spinner MacGill three for 175 in the three-day fixture against the Carib Beer XI, only one of two first-class matches for the Australians outside the Tests .
But both were hammered in an unbroken partnership of 221 in two hours 20 minutes between 19-year-old left-hander Narsingh Deonarine (144 not out) and 21-year-old right-hander Carlton Baugh (115 not out) that almost snatched a remarkable victory.
Hogg, 32, has had only one Test, against India seven years ago, but has been a consistent performer in inter-state cricket in Australia and was one of the best bowlers in the recent World Cup in South Africa.
MacGill, on his second tour of the Caribbean, outbowled Warne in the 1999 series when he was eventually preferred to his illustrious partner for the final Test. Although out of sorts against the young, composite Carib team, he claimed 12 wickets in the last two Tests of the Ashes series against England in January when Warne was unfit and, as such, is the incumbent.
Waugh was clearly impressed with Hogg's variation in the opener and compared the 'flipper' that skidded through to bowl Dwayne Bravo with Warne's best.
"I don't know if the opposition can pick him or not, but he bowled a great flipper today which was up there with Shane Warne's," Waugh said. "He was very impressive."
"He had good control, which he's really improved on," he added. "Justin Langer, who's played with him for a lot of years, thinks his control's really improved in the past six months, and that's a big thing at this level. If you have control you can continually put pressure on the batsmen."
Waugh was satisfied with the three-day workout, pointing out that players from the successful World Cup campaign that ended March 23 were still "pretty tired".
"I wasn't that concerned that we didn't manage to win," he said. "I would've preferred to have won, but I thought we played pretty well for most of it."