Gayle hopeful over Sarwan fitness

Chris Gayle has admitted that losing Ramnaresh Sarwan for the first Test against Australia would be a huge blow, but remains hopeful the former skipper will be available.

The three-match Test series gets underway on Thursday in Brisbane with the Aussies strong favourites at 2/7 with Stan James to draw first blood, with the Windies available at 8/1 and the draw at 4/1.

Gayle (10/3 to be the top West Indies batsman in the first innings) himself has only just returned to Australia after flying home to be with his sick mother but will lead the side out at the Gabba on Thursday.

However, he may be without one of his senior players after Sarwan (3/1) suffered a back injury during a fielding drill on Wednesday, and a decision will be made on his fitness shortly before the coin toss.

"It's not good news, but we're going to keep our fingers crossed and hopefully tomorrow he'll be fit," Gayle said.

"He got some runs in the last game so he's in good nick. To lose him at this point in time, it's a crucial point in time, but if that's the case then someone will have to step up and make a giant contribution."

Australia captain Ricky Ponting also believes the loss of Sarwan could have an adverse effect on the tourists chances, while Gayle's preparation has been far from ideal.

"To have their captain going halfway round the world in the past couple of days and one of their better batsmen going down, it's obviously not a great start for them," Ponting said.

"All we can do is prepare for both of those guys to play, we've talked about those guys' importance to their team, so we'll just wait and see what they come out with."

Australia are expected to make home advantage count as 1/7 favourites in Stan James series outright betting, with Gayle's men on offer at 12/1 and the draw at 11/2.