West Indies Struggle against Australia in One-Day Internationals

The Windies will be playing for pride in the remaining two One-Day International matches after a defeat by seven wickets left them trailing 3-0 in the five-match series.

There is no disgrace in losing to Australia, the best team in cricket for a long time. But after being competitive in the Test Series, Chris Gayle and his men must be wondering where it all went wrong.

Although they lost the Test Series 2-0, all the matches went to the final day and the Aussies were made to work hard for their victories. But in the ODIs the West Indies have lost by 84 runs, 63 runs (D/L method), and seven wickets—not the results they had hoped for.

However, signs of potential are emerging. In the second one-dayer the Aussies were reduced to 35-3 before eventually making it to 213-5. 

And in the third one-day match the Windies looked set for a strong score at 160-2, but then collapsed to 223 all out with two overs left to bat.

So positives can be taken from the matches but the experienced players like Chris Gayle, Ramnaresh Sarwan, and Shivnarine Chanderpaul cannot keep dragging the team out of trouble and into a respectable position.

They need help from the younger players and some, like Dwayne Bravo and Xavier Marshall, have shown they can contribute to the team. But for a team that was once so great, the rebuilding is only just starting to take effect.

They are trying to build a team for the future, hence the likes of Ganga and Collymore missing out. But the question has to be asked as to whether or not some of the youngsters in the squad are ready for a test series against the best team in the world? And the answer is, judging by the results so far, that most are not.

The West Indies were not expected to beat Australia in the series but they need to make sure it is a learning curve for them and that what they learn now will lead to some consistency in the future.

For the neutral, let's hope some of the youngsters can perform and they, at least, run Australia close in the remaining two one-day matches in St. Kitts so we can see some revival in what was once one of the best cricketing nations.      

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