Dujon's tale has a message for Australia

PERTH - Jeffrey Dujon's account of the fall of the once-mighty Windies cricket team could serve as a gentle reminder for the Australian side which has assumed its mantle.

Dujon, then wicketkeeper-batsman and now West Indies assistant coach, believes that team has paid a long and painful toll for not blooding enough young players while it ruled world cricket in the 1980s.

The Australian team, on the verge of equalling the Windies' world record of 11 consecutive Test victories set by Dujon, Viv Richards, Malcolm Marshall and co from 1983-85, shares similar dominance.

It also faces a quandary as selectors ponder the future of longer-serving players like Mark Waugh leading into the five-Test series against the Windies and try to gauge how much longer they can and should continue.

"Our team didn't change very much. It was literally the same team which played Test and one-dayers so young players weren't even touring with the team," said Dujon here today before the Windies' first training session in Perth.

"As a result, we weren't home much to play in our first-class cricket so the standard of cricket went down and there was always this feeling that we would just keep producing players.

"Then we lost basically the nucleus of that team all at the same time which changed the whole situation.

"We brought youngsters in who didn't understand what the game at that level was all about."

The Australian selectors have already shown an awareness of the need to regenerate the team and a willingness to make the tough decisions.

Most notably they terminated the career of Ian Healy last season - denying him a farewell Test at his Gabba home ground - to make way for outstanding wicketkeeper-batsman Adam Gilchrist.

They have also exposed young players such as Simon Katich and Mark Higgs to international tours and have also been able to introduce new players like Gilchrist, Ian Harvey and Andrew Symonds to international cricket by separating the Test and one-day sides.

But the future of 35-year-old Waugh shapes as one of their toughest decisions this summer - regardless of the inquiry into the recent Indian bookie allegation against him.

Damien Martyn is considered the most likely replacement if Waugh is pushed aside, despite his solid form this season, but the West Australian is 29 and has been on the fringes of an ageing Australian team for a considerable time.

Paceman Brett Lee is the only player aged under 25 among the Australian Cricket Board's list of 25 contracted players.

Dujon had not seen enough of Australia's recent Test matches to comment on their situation, although he was confident his 1980s team would have beaten Steve Waugh's men.

"I would have fancied the team I played in against any team I've seen," he said.

"The team I played in didn't think about losing. I'm not boasting - we just didn't think about it.

"We decided what we wanted to do, how we were going to do it and we just went out there and it either worked or it didn't."

Dujon remained confident the struggling Windies would make life tough for Australia when the Test series began at the Gabba on November 23.

The Windies arrived yesterday with a dreadful away record but Dujon hoped the more familiar Australian conditions would help his players stop the home team's winning run.

"Even the strongest team in the world has weaknesses - you find them, you play on them long enough and things can happen.

"I have a few (ideas about Australia's weaknesses) but they will stay exactly where they are."