Sending an inexperienced Windies team to Australia to play against the top-ranked Test squad is like sending lambs to the slaughterhouse, according to former West Indies wicketkeeper-battler Jeffrey Dujon.
It’s a little embarrassing since Australia isn’t in the same predicament as us. “This is like sending lambs to slaughter, even though their players may be more patriotic,” Dujon said to the Jamaican publication The Gleaner.
The West Indies have released their 15-man inexperienced team, which includes seven players without caps, for their two-match Test series against Australia that begins in Adelaide on January 17.
“It would have been better if we had sent a young team like this to play a weaker nation, but I don’t think there’s a whole lot to be gained sending a team with seven debutants against a team so experienced, established and powerful,” Dujon said.
West Indies great Desmond Haynes, the chief selector, said, “The squad has been affected by the unavailability of some key players.”
The Windies won 2-1 over Australia in a Test series played in Australia back in 1992, the last time the West Indies had triumphed against them.
Former Australia captain Steve Waugh expressed his desire for the International Cricket Council (ICC), the organization that oversees cricket, to step in after learning of the inexperienced team.
“It has been a few years since they (West Indies) selected a full-strength Test squad. Even though they don’t play Test cricket, players like Nicholas Pooran are indeed Test batsmen. Their best player, Jason Holder, isn’t playing right now, according to Waugh.
Dujon agreed with what Waugh said.
“Unless you have your greatest players playing, cricket cannot advance. But Dujon said, “It’s not an easily resolved scenario, and Steve Waugh is correct when he says that this is a harbinger of the end for Test cricket because the players have too much power over the boards and can choose when and where they want to play.