West Indies' chance to impress

West Indies' recent record in Australia is far from encouraging, says Tony Cozier in the Nation News, but with Australia currently rebuilding, the upcoming limited-overs series might be their chance to turn that record around a bit.

This West Indies squad ventures onto Australia territory with more belief than for over a decade; whether this can be converted into results is debatable. Their position in the ICC rankings remains four places and 25 points short of Australia's. Their most recent 3-2 loss to Bangladesh (two places and ten points below them) exposed their continuing inconsistency.

Given the trouncings they have received in Australia of late, just a competitive performance would be a welcome advance. An overall series success might be carrying it a bit too far; if somehow achieved it would rank not far behind the World Twenty20 victory in Sri Lanka last October in the long-term scheme of things. Far more realistically, it presents the selectors with an early opportunity to assess the strongest candidates for the build-up to the World Cup three years hence, the next assignment Down Under.