Battle commences at Edgbaston on Thursday and the last time Australia won there was the opening match of the 2001 series which they ended up dominating 4-1.
An old-fashioned green-top pitch at the Sir Vivian Richards Stadium in North Sound was certainly a mitigating factor in England's performance, especially early on when West Indies' four-pronged pace attack exploited the favourable conditions.
Superb pace bowling, immaculate catching and astute captaincy combined to forge a thrilling final-day victory for England, who dismissed Pakistan for 201 to win the third test by 141 runs and go 2-1 up in the series. England refused to be cowed by a 103-run first-innings deficit, building a 343-run lead when they batted again and then destroying the tourists with an immaculate performance in the field that saw six wickets tumble between lunch and tea.
James Anderson tore through West Indies' middle order in a devastating late spell, while Ben Stokes chimed in to claim tailender Kemar Roach for a duck with the final ball of the day at Kensington Oval in Bridgetown.
An investigation has been launched into reports that three top England players allegedly urinated on the pitch at The Oval, in London, hours after the fifth and final Ashes Test ended on Sunday.
Indian team manager Lalchand Rajput said both players' fitness would be assessed on Saturday before the Twenty20 World Cup semi-final against Australia.
Opener Gautam Gambhir hit his third century in four Tests as India scored 179 for 1 on the first day of the second and final test against England on Friday.
Mercurial paceman Kagiso Rabada produced the second best match figures by a South African to propel his side to a consolation 280-run victory over a feeble England on the last morning of the fourth and final Test.
Sri Lanka's Kaushal Silva and Kumar Sangakkara offered stubborn resistance on the second day of the opening Test after Joe Root put England in control by hitting his maiden Test double ton on Friday.
He was among the key plotters of England's historic 2012 Test triumph in India and former coach Andy Flower sees no reason why an encore is not possible this year as he believes the visitors have enough 'formidable players' to challenge the upbeat hosts.
India lost the second Test by an innings and 159 runs on Day 4 at Lord's as a dominant England took a 2-0 lead in the five-match series.
Mitchell Johnson will not mind being the man England fans love to mock in the Ashes so long as he is taking wickets but the friendly abuse might start to get under his skin if the Australian paceman continues to fire blanks.
Rediff.com's Manu Shankar spoke with former Essex player and fast bowling coach Ian Pont to assess England's disastrous start in the ICC's 50-over-a-side extravaganza.
Spinner Moeen Ali crowned his excellent series by taking five wickets as England beat South Africa by 177 runs in the fourth Test in Manchester on Monday to secure a 3-1 series victory.
England's Jack Leach fell eight runs short of a maiden Test century as Ireland kept alive their victory hopes on the second day of their historic four-day Test, at Lord's.
Coach Mark Boucher appears to have brought some steel back to the South African squad as they subdued an England side battling with illness and which has recently struggled to pick up wins on the road.
Younis Khan scored 101 as Pakistan beat England by two wickets in the third ODI.
India need one more wicket to thrash England in the third Test at Trent Bridge after the hosts ended the fourth day on 311 for nine, 210 runs short of their target.
Jos Buttler has not scored a fifty in his last 12 Test innings and also dropped Jermaine Blackwood, who ended up scoring match-winning 95 for West Indies in the first Test.
West Indies ended the fourth day of the unexpectedly enthralling second test requiring 317 more runs to win after England turned the contest firmly in their favour.
Images from Day 4 of the second Test between England and Pakistan at the Rose Bowl, in Southampton, on Sunday.
Pakistan finished the third day of the first Test in a strong position after Yasir Shah took six wickets as England were dismissed for 272 then the visitors reached 214 for eight in their second innings for a lead of 281.
Veteran England pacer James Anderson on Wednesday said he is keeping his 'fingers crossed' for a return against India in the rescheduled fifth Test match, starting at Edgbaston on Friday.
The dashing left-hander believes that till he does not perform in Test cricket, he cannot be considered as a top player.
Teenaged opening batsman Haseeb Hameed was one of the three uncapped players named on Friday for England's forthcoming tour to Bangladesh.
South Africa took full advantage of an abject England batting display on Monday to complete an easy 340-run win in the second Test to level the series 1-1 with two games left to play.
England Lions finished the opening day of the three-day tour match on a commanding 379 for 8 against India at Chelmsford on Friday.
Australia great Ian Chappell says Virat Kohli is an exceptional captain who has carried the Indian team to a higher level, whereas England's Joe Root is a "fine batter but poor captain".
Debutant Haseeb Hameed struck his maiden fifty and shared an unbroken century partnership with captain Alastair Cook to push England's lead over India to 163 runs on day four of the first Test in Rajkot, on Saturday.
India captain Virat Kohli has called for changes to the 'soft-signal' rule for outfield catches after team mate Suryakumar Yadav was controversially dismissed in Thursday's fourth T20 International against England.
Limited overs specialist Jos Buttler will replace the struggling Ben Duckett in a rejigged England batting line-up, skipper Alastair Cook confirmed ahead of his team's third Test against India beginning on Saturday.
Opener Tamim Iqbal led Bangladesh's fightback with a dogged 78 after the hosts had got off to a wobbly start in reply to England's first innings 293 on the second day of the opening Test on Friday.
England paceman James Anderson celebrated his 33rd birthday in style.
Joe Root was earmarked as a future England captain from the day he made his Test debut in 2012 and after scoring a bucket-load of runs he duly landed the job just over four years later.
Former wicketkeeper Ian Healy predicted a 2-1 win for India in the four-Test series against Australia, starting in Nagpur on February 9, provided the hosts don't prepare "unreasonable wickets".
Spinner Zafar Ansari will make his England Test debut in the second and final match against Bangladesh while Stuart Broad is rested as Alastair Cook rotates his side ahead of the tour to India.
England captain Joe Root lamented his team's failure to exploit their "good positions" in the first Ashes Test in Brisbane but is confident they would bounce back from their stinging 10-wicket defeat on Monday.
England may have been utterly humiliated in their second World Cup pool match against co-hosts New Zealand but Sunday's nine-wicket defeat to Sri Lanka was much more damaging, according to former England captain Mike Atherton.
The South Africa-born 33-year-old has not played for the senior England team since the first Test in Brisbane 18 months ago, after which he returned home with stress-related problems.
An extra bowler would have allowed the rest of the attack more time to recuperate, feels Indian pacer Jasprit Bumrah, who conceded they failed to execute their plans against England's tailenders on the second day of the fifth and final Test.
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