The West Indies’ lack of tactical nous was laid bare in the second Test against Australia, according to Mark Waugh and former captain Michael Clarke.
Australia seized control on day one of the pink-ball second Test against the travelling party, with Marnus Labuschagne’s third straight Test century and Travis Head’s ton giving the Aussies a big cushion.
The home side’s dominance gave rise to the notion that the touring party were poorly prepared with their bowling in the last session with their performance ridiculed as “not even club cricket”.
“Take nothing away from those two batsmen but clubbies at best, the West Indies,” Clarke said on Sky Radio’s The Big Sports Breakfast.
“Their bowlers, again they brought a debutant out from West Indies who landed a handful of days ago, always going to be a risk and it’s such a long way to travel.
“They bowled two part-time spinners in the first session of a Test match. It’s an average attack. Their tactics were just horrible. They are in deep trouble.”
Waugh too was surprised by the tourist’s lack of a plan with the ball.
“Tactically, I couldn’t understand bringing a part-time spinner on in the first hour of the Test match,” Waugh said on RSN Breakfast Club.
“They hung in there pretty well halfway through the day when they had Australia 3-131 but after that Marnus and Travis Head just took the game away from them. The last session, that was club cricket, not even club cricket, I’m being a bit disrespectful to club players.
“The bowling was very, very ordinary, they had hands in pockets and long-sleeve jumpers on, it just didn’t look like they wanted to be there.”
