Although Australia went down to South Africa in cricket’s World Test championship final at Lord’s in London last month, they remain the number one ranked Test team globally.

By contrast, West Indies are eighth, just ahead of Bangladesh.

And while statistics never tell the whole story, it does tell a considerable part. In that respect, the only member of the current West Indies Test match set up with a batting average above 30 is opening batsman and former captain Mr Kraigg Brathwaite.

On the other hand, four of Australia’s top six batsmen in their current three-Test tour of the Caribbean average above 40.

That includes the great Mr Steve Smith who averages 56.34 with more than 10,000 runs in 118 Test matches.

All of which is why serious cricket watchers fully expected Australia to win the series, now into its third and final Test starting this afternoon at Sabina Park with the visitors predictably up 2-0.

Readers are no doubt aware that the game will be the first day/night, pink-ball Test match in Jamaica.

Entering the series, optimism for the West Indies was largely rooted in the historic one-match upset of early 2024 when they beat the Australians in Brisbane. The Guyanese fast bowler Mr Shamar Joseph was the hero back then.

The irrepressible Mr Joseph is again showing the way with 14 wickets in the series so far — the most by any bowler on either side.

Australian dominance notwithstanding, it seems reasonable to say that but for butter-fingered catching and questionable officiating, West Indies would have come very close to winning the first Test of the current series at Kensington Oval in Barbados.

A sustained poor run with the bat for Mr Brathwaite, who played his 100th Test in Grenada, means his place in the final 11 at Sabina is in danger.

A mitigating factor for all batsmen on both sides is that the pitches in the two previous Tests were extremely challenging — even unfair.

While the quality of Caribbean pitches have improved in recent years — certainly for the annual regional first class tournament — it remains a matter which needs to be addressed in methodical, targeted fashion, in our view.

This newspaper believes poor pitches have had much to do with the decline of Caribbean batting over the last 20 years, at least.

We hope and expect that the Sabina pitch will be a huge improvement on those for the first two Tests.

Also, efforts to integrate in the Test match setup, those batsmen who currently only play white-ball formats for the West Indies, must continue after this series.

A pleasing, stroke-filled, yet solid 75 from Mr Brandon King in Grenada was a clear indicator of the way to go. Mr King, now 30 years old and who has played white-ball cricket for the West Indies since 2019, only made his Test début in Barbados.

We are relieved that concerns have eased regarding ‘last-minute’ upgrades including lighting and a new electronic scoreboard for Sabina Park.

It seems that what’s most needed now is for cricket fans to turn out in respectable numbers in support of the West Indies team, and for rain — forecast for the next few days — to stay away.