Western Australia beat Windies by 7 wkts
Veteran all-rounder Tom Moody forecast a long fruitless summer for the West Indies after Western Australia put the tourists out of their misery at the WACA Ground here on Sunday.
Moody's medium pace wrecked the Windies' second innings, enabling the Australian Sheffield Shield team to stroll to a seven-wicket win shortly after lunch on the final day of the visitors' opening first-class match.
Skipper Moody took 4-14 off 12 overs as the tourists fell for 293, but WA had their own problems chasing the victory target of 68 against a West Indies team missing rested stars Brian Lara and Courtney Walsh.
The young West Indian pace attack outsmarted Test batsmen Adam Gilchrst (six) and Justin Langer (five) before opener Michael Hussey (11) went the same way to leave the score at 34 for three.
But Moody is convinced the Windies will struggle against the record-breaking Australians when the five-match Test series begins in Brisbane on November 23.
"They desperately miss Walsh and Lara," Moody said. "Their batting needs the class of a Lara and it will be interesting to see how their depth stands up in this series, particularly against Brett Lee, Jason Gillespie and Glenn McGrath.
"They're high-class bowlers and they're going to think they're in heaven with the first two Test matches at the Gabba (Brisbane) and the WACA."
Moody wasn't glowing in his appraisal of the Windies' bowlers who restricted Langer and Gilchrist to a combined total of 70 runs in four innings despite missing the experience of Walsh and his likely Test partner Nixon McLean.
Rookie Marlon Black (4-100 and 1-17) was the pick of the quickies making a strong bid for the vacancy created by retired legend Curtly Ambrose.
He removed Langer with a smart ball, which provided wicketkeeper Courtney Browne with his fifth catch of the match, after Mervyn Dillon (2-37) claimed Gilchrist and Hussey.
But Moody said his batsmen believed Black struggled to maintain his pace through his spells making the job easier for the Australian batsmen.
"We know Walsh is a high-class performer but with Ambrose at home they're going to have some long days in the field," Moody said.
The West Indies put a more positive spin on the match, which began horribly when they were bowled out for 132 on the first day, before their batsmen showed more discipline in a second innings' total of 293.
"That's the competition we want," captain Jimmy Adams said.
"This will give us a true mirror image of what need to be done before the tour starts."
Windies coach Roger Harper lamented his team's sloppy fielding and his players' inability to make big scores after Adams spent three hours for 44 runs and Shivnarine Chanderpaul batted two hours for 43.
Both batsmen played a supporting role to vice-captain Sherwin Campbell whose seven-hour century was an invaluable lead-up to the Test series.
The Windies have their final first-class outing against Victoria at the Melbourne Cricket Ground starting on Friday after a visit to Alice Springs for an one-day match against a Northern Territory Invitation XI on Tuesday.
The Windies selectors have yet to decide whether Walsh will play in the one-day outback match.
Mail Cricket Editor
