West Indies v Australia, 2015

	The Australians pose with the Frank Worrell Trophy © Getty Images Enlarge
Related Links Series/Tournaments: Australia tour of West Indies Teams: Australia | West Indies

Test matches (2): West Indies 0, Australia 2
Twenty years after Mark Taylor's team wrested the Frank Worrell Trophy - and Test cricket supremacy - from Richie Richardson's West Indians, the same contest was more footnote than final frontier. Australia were on their way to the Ashes, and the West Indians a matter of days away from the third edition of the Caribbean Premier League.

There was an optimism about West Indies cricket thanks to a Test series shared 1-1 with England, the emergence of Jason Holder as an exciting allrounder and one-day captain, and the appointment of the respected Phil Simmons as coach. But much of this good feeling evaporated with the decision to drop the venerable and venerated Shivnarine Chanderpaul after a pair of lean series against South Africa and England, apparently ending a 21-year Test career. Stories revealing the exchanges between Chanderpaul and the selectors did not help, and a team that had been buzzing after the win over England at Barbados were now beset by questions about their middle-order rock. Whatever Chanderpaul's recent failings, some felt he deserved to depart at a time of his own choosing. Subsequent events showed that the quality of the youth beneath him was modest, at best.

Australia, lacking only Ryan Harris, at home for the birth of his first child and to rest his troublesome knee, outpointed West Indies in all departments, from Michael Clarke's agile captaincy to razor-sharp fielding. Josh Hazlewood and Mitchell Starc showed that Australian pace bowling would be in good hands even after Harris and Mitchell Johnson, now 35 and 33, exit the stage. Meanwhile, an outstanding century from debutant Adam Voges, also 35, was a strong endorsement of his know-how; he had waited nearly a decade since being twelfth man for the 2006-07 Perth Ashes Test, and had been told a year before the 2015 World Cup that he would play no part in it. Steve Smith was promoted to No. 3, and soared to an innings of 199 at Sabina Park that lost little by comparison with anyone who had batted there for Australia.

He also soared to the top of the Test batting rankings. Simmons wanted to repair relationships with the region's IPL players, and after these two Tests it looked a wise decision. Save for some sparkling displays by Holder, Devendra Bishoo and Jerome Taylor, and a sure-footed debut by Shane Dowrich, the West Indian performance was lamentable. Ramdin looked a leaden captain, Kraigg Brathwaite an opener out of his depth against high pace, and Kemar Roach a sadly diminished figure after his own pace had marked the corresponding series in 2012. The Australians knew any resistance would be momentary, and swarmed over their opponents at the slightest sign of weakness. Perhaps most troubling was the thought that, if a series could be so one-sided in the Caribbean, what chance of a contest in Australia in 2015-16?

Match reports for

Tour Match: West Indies Cricket Board President's XI v Australians at North Sound, May 27-29, 2015
Report | Scorecard

1st Test: West Indies v Australia at Roseau, Jun 3-5, 2015
Report | Scorecard

2nd Test: West Indies v Australia at Kingston, Jun 11-14, 2015
Report | Scorecard