Lazy Windies performance justifies Australia cutting down matches against them

Brisbane, Nov.29 (ANI): The Gabba massacre shows just how pathetic West Indies are, and the key issue now is how can anybody be expected to maintain interest in this dog-eared series for two more Tests and five one-dayers.

Five years ago, when Australia decided it was time to reduce Test series against West Indies from five matches to three, some stalwarts felt offended. To them, playing only three Tests against the Windies was like an invitation to dinner. It seemed demeaning, a waste.

According to a Fox Sports report, seeing 15 days more of Australian-West Indies cricket, it could actually do more harm than good to Test cricket.

If the West Indies don't improve - they have been dreadful for a decade - there is no way Australia should be so gracious towards them in the future. Test cricket is battling for survival. You just cannot afford to clog up a summer with such cringingly bad fare.

As one blogger said on Saturday, watching them is like watching Titanic, the movie - we all know the plot.

The Gabba was like a ghost town at the start of play on day three, with a crowd of around 4000 people. Later it built to just 10,000.

Hits on newspaper stories have been down. Iconic Caribbean commentators Michael Holding and Tony Cozier didn't even bother coming. And radio stations in the Caribbean haven't picked up the broadcast.

The worst indictment is that this team has some ability, but no one is worse at extracting talent than the Windies.

Rugby league coach and former West Indies fitness coach Steve Folkes, who said: "When you ask an Australian to jump they say 'How high?'. When you ask a West Indian they ask, 'Why?"'

Another former Australian coach tells of the day he tried to get the team into the middle of the oval for exercises but the players sent a message saying they didn't want to leave the shade of the grandstand.

They are lazy players. It was all on show at the Gabba when three of them got out hooking in the second innings, including Dwayne Bravo who fell to a baited hook from Mike Hussey.

Cricketers from other nations can usually be be relied on to train privately when they leave camp. But a lot of the West Indies players don't have the same drive. They sleep a lot but are not big on exercise.

This is why English counties baulk at signing West Indies players. It's a serious setback because most of the the greats of the past - Joel Garner, Malcolm Marshall, Holding, Andy Roberts and Viv Richards - all spent significant periods in county cricket.

It is a long way back to the top of the world. Our tip is that they will never get anywhere near it again. (ANI)