With the arrival of spring come opportunities of renewal, and having endured some dark winters Australia and the West Indies take the field in Brisbane for the first Test hoping that the new season brings some brighter moments.

The islanders have endured such a dark period that this almost feels like a new era. The presence of a former great in Joel Garner (as new team manager) will add to that feeling, as has the inclusion of five players who were uncapped prior to the strike in their 15-man squad.

Garner's only previous managing experience was with the West Indies A team on their tour of England in 2002, a venture described by Wisden as a "bad-tempered, unproductive meander through the backwaters of English cricket", but if he can instill some of the ethos of the 1980s West Indies and strike up a good relationship with Chris Gayle then his addition to the set-up will surely prove fruitful.

Progress over time should be the goal rather than instant success, especially given the lack of preparations for this series. 50-over domestic matches in Guyana were all that was afforded to the players prior to their arrival in Australia, and the absence of Chris Gayle and Jerome Taylor in the tour match wasn't ideal either.

Both players will now take their place in the side on Thursday but Ramnaresh Sarwan looks a real doubt after injuring his back on Wednesday and could be replaced by Travis Dowlin.

Perhaps epitomising the hope for the future is uncapped opening batsman Adrian Barath, who will make his debut on the back of some scintillating strokeplay in Trinidad and Tobago's flair-filled Champions League campaign.

"He's been around in first-class and he's certainly got a few hundreds underneath his belt," said Gayle of his new partner. "He's a pretty decent player. We're not looking to expect too much from Barath at this point in time, but we at the same time we will look to give the team a good start."

Meanwhile Australia begin their new season in the unfamiliar position of fourth in the Test rankings following their Ashes defeat earlier this year.

One-day success since then has restored some confidence, and the fact that they will line up with just one change of personnel to the eleven who lost at The Oval should be seen as a positive. The last 12 months have allowed the selectors to pick out the men they feel are capable of leading Australia back to the top, and must now allow them the experience required to do so.

Shane Watson has been correctly retained on the back of impressive one-day showings, even if his position as opener continues to have a stopgap feel to it. Nathan Hauritz is the player with further opportunity to impress, with Ricky Ponting explaining that this is the offspinner's chance to cement a spot for the foreseeable future.

"There is a great opportunity for Nathan in the coming Test matches to really grab hold of the spinner's position in our team with both hands," said Ponting.

"His performances in the early Test matches of the Ashes series were very good, I think they probably exceeded some of our expectations on the way we thought he could bowl, so that was a real positive."

Key Players

Australia: He failed to fire during the Ashes, but Mitchell Johnson has a good record at the Gabba (13 wickets at 12.68) and will be on a mission to restore his reputation as one of the top quicks in the world.

West Indies: As usual he's the one who's escaped the pre-match attention, but Shivnarine Chanderpaul's stickability remains the West Indies' biggest asset. If this next phase of their history is anything like the pre-strike era, he'll remain the Windies' only hope of avoiding defeat.

Prediction

The West Indies have won just one Test out of 15 in the last 10 years and won't add to that tally before the decade's out. So long as the weather holds, which looks highly likely, the Aussies should do the business.

Last Five Head-to-Head Results

2008: Third Test: Australia won by 87 runs in Bridgetown
2008: Second Test: Match Drawn In North Sound
2008: First Test: Australia won by 95 runs in Kingston
2005: Third Test: Australia won by seven wickets in Adelaide
2005: Second Test: Australia won by nine wickets in Hobart

Likely Teams

Australia: Simon Katich, Shane Watson, Ricky Ponting (capt), Michael Hussey, Michael Clarke, Marcus North, Brad Haddin (wk), Mitchell Johnson, Nathan Hauritz, Peter Siddle, Ben Hilfenhaus.

West Indies: Chris Gayle (capt), Adrian Barath, Ramnaresh Sarwan/Travis Dowlin, Shivnarine Chanderpaul, Dwayne Bravo, Brendan Nash, Denesh Ramdin (wk), Darren Sammy, Sulieman Benn, Jerome Taylor, Kemar Roach.

Dates: 26-30 November; First Session: 00:00-02:00, Second Session: 02:40-04:40, Third Session: 05:00-07:00 (all times GMT)

Tristan Holme