FOLLOWING the West Indies’ horrific performance to end their Test series against Australia, former West Indies and Jamaica wicketkeeper batsman Jeffrey Dujon believes a major overhaul of the programme is needed if they are to avoid further crises on the international stage.

The Caribbean side were whitewashed 0-3 by the visiting Aussies after losing the third Test on Monday at Sabina Park where they were knocked over for a dismal 27 — the second-lowest score in the history of the 148-year-old format.

It was the end to a disastrous batting series for the Windies who failed to surpass the 200 mark in five of the six innings, with Jamaican Brandon, making his test debut in the series, the only batsman to register a half-century.

The defeat in Kingston saw seven batsmen falling without scoring, with only Justin Greaves, on 11, getting into double figures.

Dujon, who played 81 Tests for the Windies from 1981 to 1991, told the Jamaica Observer that the performances were far from surprising.

“It’s embarrassing but not totally unexpected,” he said. “I don’t think we’re moving in the right direction structurally, and from what I’ve watched, our batsmen are not adapting [to the] conditions at all. The Australians really had them on the go, nobody looked settled at any point, and it wasn’t surprising that this was the result. They worked us out. Look at our second-innings totals — it’s ridiculous.”

The Test series was the first under head coach Daren Sammy, who was given the nod as all-format coach by Cricket West Indies last December after his relative success with the white-ball teams.

However, Dujon doesn’t think the St Lucian will change the fortunes of the team’s red-ball struggles.

“I don’t believe that Daren Sammy — and I have nothing against him personally — is the man for the job. To be the coach of all three formats and what appears to be the only selector, that’s a lot for someone with a lack of experience to take on. I don’t think we’re going to go anywhere where that is concerned, and a lot has to change,” he said.

CWI President Dr Kishore Shallow announced that an emergency meeting will be convened to review the series, and has invited former captains Sir Clive Lloyd, Sir Vivian Richards and Brian Lara to be part of it.

Dujon, though, isn’t expecting anything special to come from the meeting.

“That’s not going to change anything. If I was one of them [Lloyd, Richards or Lara], I wouldn’t be running to go in there because that’s only including me in the embarrassment because, trust me, the solution doesn’t lie there. That’s a smokescreen [to] take some pressure off [the team],” Dujon said.

“All the pontificating, the explanations, and the proposed this and that isn’t going to solve the problem. We’re suffering from the fact that we’ve not developed our cricket along on the right lines and this is where we’ve ended up. We’ve reached a point where we can’t compete with the best teams.”

Dujon, who recorded over 3,300 Test runs including five centuries and 16 half-centuries, says CWI needs to place more focus on developing coaches if young players are to matriculate in a competitive team.

“Our next good West Indies team, if we start now, is five to 10 years down the road,” he said. “The position we’re in now is that we have a decent bowling attack — and I have to compliment the bowlers, the fast bowlers in particular, and the effort they put in — but look at our second-innings score! It’s as if the players are tired, and they can’t concentrate, and technically they’re not trying to adapt to what’s being bowled at them.”

He added, “I think we need to seriously revisit the fundamentals of our cricket and give the youngsters a better chance to come up in a situation with the ability to compete by starting some good, fundamental coaching programmes. Playing more competitions isn’t doing anything — our coaches in the West Indies is poor, especially the batting, and I have historical facts about why but we don’t really need to go into that right now.”

The Windies will now turn their focus to the T20 series against Australia, beginning on Sunday at Sabina Park.

DUJON… we’re suffering from the fact that we’ve not developed our cricket along on the right lines