IT won’t be easy after last Monday’s humiliating, 27 all out at Sabina Park, as West Indies fell to a 0-3 Test series defeat to Australia.

However, we hope coach Mr Daren Sammy and his players will be fighting fit in mind and body for Sunday’s start of the five-match Twenty20 series.

Hopefully too, the imminent international retirement of that great servant of cricket, Mr Andre Russell, will be incentive enough for cricket lovers to flock to his farewell games on Sunday and Tuesday at Sabina.

Being swept by Australia in Tests came as no surprise to knowledgeable West Indies cricket fans, given the well-established difference in quality between the teams.

Australia are ranked first among Test-playing countries, West Indies eighth. Furthermore, while West Indies boast an outstanding fast bowling attack, their batting is easily the weakest among the top nine Test-playing countries.

Truth is that the moaning, groaning, and calls for the coach’s sacking all flowed from the hurt caused by 27 all out.

Yet, Monday’s disaster merely underlined the long-standing, deepening need for a comprehensive overhaul of regional cricket.

Much is said about fixing governance issues, and rightly so.

Crucially, we also know that in the most populous country, Jamaica — and we suspect a few other places — inadequate support for cricket, which is a prohibitively expensive sport, is at crisis levels.

In Jamaica, schools which still play competitively are mostly without basic practice facilities. In some cases, coaches are below appropriate standard. The same is true for clubs and parishes.

Motivation is lacking for overworked, underpaid, poorly equipped grounds’ staff. It’s therefore not surprising that pitches are often poor and that, consequentially, batting — arguably the most challenging skill in the sport — is wanting.

No wonder in the current West Indies men’s Under-19 50-over tournament in St Kitts and Nevis outsiders United States of America are best placed to lift the title.

Badly needed is much greater support from Caribbean governments and businesses. We agree with Cricket West Indies President Dr Kishore Shallow that those interested in protecting the regional game must stand together.

Unfortunately, Dr Shallow — who has requested a meeting of top former players to assess what just went wrong — undermined his own cause by alleging that calls for Mr Sammy’s sacking are motivated by insularity.

With people hurting, calls for heads to roll should have been fully expected. Also, though we join in rejecting knee-jerk reactions there may have to be a change of tack and possibly personnel — not just Mr Sammy — after a thorough assessment of recent happenings.

Finally, we believe it appropriate to say that scores of fewer than 50 in Test cricket do happen, time to time, dating back to the early days of the format in the late 19th century.

Prior to Monday, the only such experience for the West Indies was in 2004 — bundled out by England for 47 at Sabina.

Since then, records show at least eight occasions when other international teams were dismissed for fewer than 50.

Most notably, mighty India were blown away by Australia for 36 at Adelaide in 2020. And in 2011, full-strength Australia fell for 47 to South Africa at Cape Town — recovering from 21 for nine.

Such things do happen.