Inexperienced Windies will be ‘lambs for slaughter’ in Australia, says Dujon

Former West Indies wicketkeeper-batter Jeffrey Dujon said sending an inexperienced Windies side to Australia to play against the top-ranked Test side is similar to sending lambs to slaughter.

"It's a bit of an embarrassment because Australia doesn't suffer from the same situation like us. Maybe their players are more patriotic, but this is like sending lambs to slaughter," Dujon told the Jamaican newspaper The Gleaner.

The West Indies announced an inexperienced 15-player squad, including seven uncapped players, for this month's two-match Test series against Australia, starting from January 17 in Adelaide.

"It would have been better if we had sent a young team like this to play a weaker nation, but I don't think there's a whole lot to be gained sending a team with seven debutants against a team so experienced, established and powerful," Dujon added.

Chief selector and West Indies great Desmond Haynes said, "The squad has been affected by the unavailability of some key players."

The last time a West Indies team defeated Australia in a Test series Down Under was back in 1992 when the Windies won 2-1.

The announcement of the inexperienced squad caught the attention of former Australia captain Steve Waugh, who shared that he wants cricket's governing body, the International Cricket Council (ICC), to intervene.

"They (West Indies) haven't picked a full-strength Test team for a couple years now. Someone like Nicholas Pooran is really a Test batsman who doesn't play Test cricket. Jason Holder, probably their best player, is not playing now," Waugh said.

Even Dujon supported what Waugh mentioned.

"Cricket can't improve unless you have your best players playing. However, it's not a situation that's easily solved, and Steve Waugh is right, this is signalling the doom of Test cricket because the boards don't have enough control over the players and they (players) can dictate when and where they want to play," Dujon said.