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After nine months of continuous cricket Australia captain Michael Clarke is calling for one last effort by his team in the final Test against the West Indies.
After 13 Tests, thousands of air miles and three tours, Australia captain Michael Clarke is asking his team to make one last effort against the West Indies in Dominica this week.
The third Test at Windsor Park is the end of a gruelling nine-month schedule for Clarke and his team which has included tours of Sri Lanka, South Africa and the Caribbean as well as home series against New Zealand and India.
But Clarke wants his team to do all they can to go out on a high in their last Test match before next summer's home series against South Africa, saying fatigue is no excuse.
"I'm pretty sure all the boys will want to make this Test a good one for themselves personally and for the team because we've had a really good summer, we want to finish on a high," he said.
"Guys can't be too fatigued. Ninety-five cent of the blokes are going to the IPL so we have no excuse not to come out and play our best cricket once again in this Test match and finish what has been a very good summer of Test cricket on a high.
"Your No.1 goal is to win every series you play, there's no doubt about that, that's what we plan to do in this third Test."
The pitch in Roseau appears set to provide the most pace and bounce of the series, with sporadic grass cover, suggesting young left-arm quick Mitchell Starc will win the selection race ahead of Michael Beer.
Starc hasn't played a Test since his four-wicket display against India in Perth and his last competitive outing was the rain-shortened Sheffield Shield clash between NSW and Queensland at SCG in early March.
Despite this the promise of a quicker track than those seen in either the Barbados or Trinidad Tests should see Starc chosen in place of left-arm spinner Beer.
"With a bit more grass on the surface there's probably a chance we'll go in with three quicks in this game compared to the make up from last week," former skipper Ricky Ponting said after the team's first look at the pitch in Roseau.
Only one member of Australia's touring party has ever been to the remote island nation of Dominica, which hosted its first and only Test last year.
Selector Rod Marsh was a member of a 1979 World Series cricket team which played in Roseau and he said the 90-minute journey from the airport to the team hotel through rainforest clad hillsides and small towns would have been an eye-opener for modern players.
"I would imagine the players would've thought, getting out of the plane and into the airport then onto the bus ... 'are we really going to play a Test match here?' But when you come here and look it, you think geez, what a lovely ground for a Test match," Marsh said.
"I've heard already that the place is going to be teeming with people, which is fantastic for both sides.
"I think it is far better to play in front of a crowd than in front of an empty stadium. So let's hope we fill at and let's hope there's some terrific cricket and that we win."
The third Test begins at 10am on Monday (12am Tuesday AEST).
