Nielsen wary of 'competitive' West Indies

Australia's coach Tim Nielsen has cautioned his side against a committed West Indies team this summer.

The Windies landed in Australia on Friday to prepare for the Test and One-Day series against Australia following a tumultuous pay dispute with its own cricket board.

Nielsen warned the tourists' batting remained strong with the stroke players such as Gayle, Ramnaresh Sarwan and all-rounder Dwayne Bravo.

"They have got a very strong batting line-up with Gayle back, Sarwan, Shivnarine Chanderpaul and Bravo, those sort of guys," The Herald Sun quoted Nielsen, as saying.

"They've got most of the top six they'd normally have playing again, so we'll need to bowl well and catch well to make sure that we attack those guys because we know if they get in they score quickly and get big scores," he said.

Discipline issues and political infighting have crippled West Indies cricket since being dethroned as world champions in 1995.

Conflict with the West Indies Cricket Board saw players strike for six months until October, but Nielsen expects them to rise to the challenge of playing Australia.

"I think they'll be cohesive. I noticed in the media the other day someone was mentioning that it's difficult when the administration is not always seeing eye-to-eye with the playing group, and that's obviously been happening for a period now," Nielsen said.

 "As long as they have a support group behind them, off the ground, that can sort out any issues. I expect to see them being pretty competitive. It's amazing. Once cricketers walk across the line, whatever's going on in their life they tend to be able to block it out and just play," he added.