Phil Simmons reinstated as West Indies coach
Perth: Australian cricket fans will have to do their research before this summer's marquee Tests after the West Indies announced a Test squad that, as expected, excluded their biggest-name players - who instead will be in Australia for the Big Bash League.
Just four of the West Indies' 15-man squad have played Test cricket in Australia: batsman Marlon Samuels, fast-bowlers Kemar Roach and Jerome Taylor and wicketkeeper Denesh Ramdin. Of the rest, the only one to have played any international cricket in Australia, including at last summer's World Cup, is towering bowling all-rounder Jason Holder. 
The squad is very similar to the one that was beaten 2-0 in a home series by Australia immediately before last year's Ashes. The exception is the addition of 23-year-old Jomel Worrican, a left-arm finger-spinner who made his Test debut in Sri Lanka last month.
The other change since that series is the demotion of Ramdin as captain in favour of 24-year-old Holder, who was already the West Indies' limited-overs captain despite his lack of international experience.
The West Indies squad will depart the Caribbean on   November 23 and will spend about a week completing a training camp in Australia to gain familiarity with conditions. They will play a four-day match against a Cricket Australia XI at Brisbane's Allan Border Field in preparation for the three-Test series, which begins on   December 10 in Hobart. The series also includes the marquee Tests: Boxing Day in Melbourne and New Year's in Sydney.
As the mostly unheralded West Indies players seek to defy expectations they will struggle to compete in Australia, as former West Indies Test players Chris Gayle, Dwayne Bravo and Darren Sammy and limited-overs specialists Kieron Pollard and Samuel Badree will be playing BBL.
Central contracts on offer to West Indies players are incomparable to those offered to players of the Big Three - India, England, Australia - and this has led to some players prioritising overseas Twenty20 deals ahead of national duties. Furthermore, the West Indies' selectors have been at odds with some of those players - most notably Bravo.
Until this week Bravo, whose younger brother Darren is in the Test squad, had not played for the West Indies since late 2014, when he was the captain and the team abandoned a tour of India due to industrial issues. That move has left the WICB in the crosshairs of the powerful Board of Control for Cricket in India.
All-rounder Bravo, 32, was overlooked for last summer's World Cup. He made his international return in a Twenty20 match in Sri Lanka.
The West Indies' campaign will be led by former player Phil Simmons, whose recent suspension by the WICB has officially been overturned.
Simmons was suspended for six weeks while the WICB investigated what they considered to be derogatory comments made about them by Simmons to the media. While he missed the series in Sri Lanka - Elden Baptiste was appointed interim head coach - the WICB announced, in conjunction with the squad announcement, that Simmons would return to his position. This was done with an official reprimand to him, and only after he made a public apology to the WICB and the selectors he criticised in late   September, for their decisions in regards to the squad for Sri Lanka.
"I regret my public outburst ... and the revelation of the voting that took place at the team-selection meeting," Simmons said.
"I extend a public apology to all whom I may have offended. I personally apologise to my fellow selectors, and the West Indies Cricket Board.
"I am looking forward to putting this behind me and doing the job I enjoy . . . to continue heading towards the goal that we have in sight, and to which we have started working."
The West Indies' team manager for the series will be Richie Richardson. It will be the former captain's final stint in the role, as immediately afterwards he will become an ICC match referee.
WEST INDIESSQUAD: Jason Holder (c), Kraigg Brathwaite (vc), Devendra Bishoo, Jermaine Blackwood, Carlos Brathwaite, Darren Bravo, Rajindra Chandrika, Shane Dowrich, Shannon Gabriel, Shai Hope, Denesh Ramdin, Kemar Roach, Marlon Samuels, Jerome Taylor, Jomel Warrican.