After facing tough batting conditions in the opening two Tests, West Indies batsman Brandon King says he is expecting a more balanced battle at Sabina Park in the final match against Australia.

The day/night fixture, to be contested with a pink ball instead of the traditional red ball, is scheduled to begin Saturday afternoon.

Batsmen on both teams found the going tough in the series opener at Kensington Oval in Barbados and the second Test at National Cricket Stadium in Grenada. The pitches at both venues offered pronounced uneven bounce and decidedly favoured the pace bowlers.

West Indies lost the matches by 159 runs and 133 runs, respectively, with the team’s very fragile batting unit going past 200 runs only once in four attempts. World number one ranked Australia, with more accomplished batsmen, have thrice scored over 200 and managed to top 300 once.

King, a Jamaican and quite familiar with Sabina Park, which is home to his local club Kingston CC, is eager to get going in the first pink-ball Test to be hosted at the historic venue.

“Obviously, it’s a great feeling to play at home. I’ve played a few white-ball games at home before and it felt incredible. This being the first day/night Test match at Sabina, it’s going to be great, I’m looking forward to it,” he said during an interview with Cricket West Indies (CWI) Media.

“Sabina Park is usually a decent wicket, it’s usually a balanced wicket — something for the bowlers, something for the batters — and that’s what you want, you want a wicket that’s competitive on both ends.

“Obviously, the previous two [pitches] were a little bit challenging — you could even say a little bit bowler friendly — but I’m expecting a more balanced wicket [at Sabina Park],” the 30-year-old right-hander reasoned.

Considered among the region’s top batsmen for at least the past five years, King only played his first Test match in the series opener against Australia last month, though he had repeatedly expressed interest in the format.

He has been a regular in the West Indies white-ball teams since his debut in 2019, featuring in 63 Twenty20 Internationals and 52 One-Day Internationals.

He showed his quality at the Test level with a polished knock of 75 in the first innings of the second Test.

He was as assured as any batsman on either team during the match, a particularly impressive feat given the tricky nature of the batting surface and the high-quality Australian bowling attack comprising pacers Josh Hazlewood, Mitchell Starc, Pat Cummins, and off-spinner Nathan Lyon.

His tally of 115 runs in four innings at an average of 28.75 leads the West Indies. The team’s next highest scorer has been lower-order player Shamar Joseph (105 runs at 26.75). Captain and all-rounder Roston Chase follows with 96 runs at 24.

King noted that he aims to use his maiden Test half-century as a template even as he acknowledged that the seasoned Australian bowlers will be formidable opponents, especially with the pink ball, which customarily swings and offers sideways movement for longer than the red ball.

“In terms of carrying over from the last game, I just want to have consistency of approach. The formula that I used to go out there and approach my batting in the last game I just want to come into this game and do the same and see what happens,” he said.

“It [pink-ball Test versus Australia] is a challenge, but an exciting challenge… in any arena that you’re in you want to compete against the best and see where you stand. They’ve played the most pink-ball games, so they’re very experienced — it’s going to be a good challenge,” King reiterated.

While the West Indies batsmen have struggled, their bowlers have more than held their own. Shamar Joseph, with 14 victims, is the leading wicket-taker in the series. His teammates Jayden Seales (10 wickets) and Alzarri Joseph (eight) have also stood out.

Hazlewood tops the list for Australia with 11 wickets, followed by Lyon (nine), left-armer Starc (eight), and Cummins (six).

King said the level of consistency with the bat has been a decisive factor between the teams as both bowling units have virtually nullified each other so far in the series.

“[We need] a little bit of consistency throughout the Test match. If you look at the last two games, we’ve been competing with them up to a certain point and then fall away a little bit. The reality is that we are playing against the number one team in the world, so for us to challenge for a win we need to be consistent in all aspects of the game right through to the end.

“The bowlers have been fantastic… to get 20 wickets in the games is incredible from them. I’ve seen the work they’ve put in in training, so it’s good to see it paid off in the games. And they come with the same, if not more, intensity in the games. It’s really good for us as a batting unit to see how hard those guys are working and help to put us in a position to win games,” he said.

Brandon King of West Indies pulls for a six during the second day of the second Test against Australia at the National Cricket Stadium in St George’s, Grenada, on July 4, 2025. (Photos: AFP)