Two Tests remain and the loss of their only experienced fast bowler, with 82 wickets in 29 Tests, is a further massive setback for the touring team.
They were already without Fidel Edwards, their fastest bowler and leading wicket-taker with 122 wickets in 48 Tests. He was ruled out of the tour, suffering from back and knee problems.
“Jerome Taylor is not available for the rest of the series,” manager Joel Garner, a member of the awesome fast bowling attack when the West Indies dominated the international game in the 1980s, said yesterday.
“We have spoken about it, and the selectors will make a determination (about a replacement).”
Gavin Tonge, the big Antiguan who is yet to play a Test and is on his first tour, is the one fast bowler remaining to join Kemar Roach and Ravi Rampaul who played in Brisbane.
That match was the 21-year-old Roach’s third Test, Rampaul’s first.
An alternative is underrated all-rounder Darren Sammy, whose medium-pace earned him a seven-wicket return in his second innings on debut against England in 2007 and two five-wicket hauls in successive Tests against Bangladesh last July.
Sammy has 25 wickets in seven Tests at an average of 25.96 but has not been selected for a Test since the second against Australia in the Caribbean almost a year and a half ago.
The West Indies are more optimistic key No.3 batsman Ramnaresh Sarwan, will recover from the back stiffness that eliminated him from the Brisbane Test and will be available for the third in Adelaide, starting on Friday.
A veteran of 81 Tests, Sarwan had one double and two single hundreds in seven home-and-away Tests against England earlier this year.
Although it is hard to see how the West Indies can take 20 wickets without Taylor, Garner laid the blame for the innings loss in Brisbane with the batsmen.
He told the Melbourne Age that it was not surprising the team struggled given their inadequate first-class competition and disjointed preparation.
A strike by leading players meant a hastily assembled replacement team took on Bangladesh in two Tests and three ODIs in the Caribbean in July – and lost them all.
The issue over contracts between the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) and the West Indies Players Association (WIPA) was resolved just before the tour and a full strength team chosen.
But their only cricket leading up to the Brisbane Test was the regional one-day tournament in Guyana and a four-day match against state team, Queensland.
“We have not had a lot of cricket, which is what we need,” Garner said. “You’ve got a team that has been playing cricket consistently for the last six, seven, eight, nine months, in the Australian team. We have four or five youngsters who have just played a handful of first-class games so … it is a tall order. The reason we lost the Test match is we didn’t bat properly.’‘
In the longer term, Garner warned that the West Indies would struggle to be competitive until more resources were devoted to reviving Caribbean cricket and for it to rise above its No.8 ranking.
“Our first-class season is maybe five or six games a year, which is not enough,” he explained. “Unlike the other places where there is a framework and money being put into cricket, the economies can’t afford the financial support needed to professionalise the entire region. It’s something that has to be attended to in a very short period of time.’‘ (TC).
