West Indies captain Jason Holder offered no excuses but plenty of home truths after his side's 10-wicket loss to a Cricket Australia XI in Brisbane on Saturday.
A forthright Holder admitted his young team had to "look at ourselves in the mirror" after the near full strength Windies were outclassed by a CA XI with six first class debutants and an average age of 21.
It was the Windies' sole tour match before the first Test against world No.2 Australia in Hobart starting on Thursday. Only rested bowling spearhead Jerome Taylor was missing from the Windies line-up at Allan Border Field.
All-rounder Holder admitted it would be a "challenge" to inspire his inexperienced line-up ahead of the Bellerive Oval Test but urged them to bounce back.
"The guys just have to take ownership sometimes," a brutally honest Holder said.

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I see this side has gone from strength to strength, after dropping Shiv....

In reply to mikesiva

I will not comment. I will just wait for our next embarrassement.

In reply to mikesiva

Too selfish and slow.
West Indies need batsmen that can score quickfire single digit scores.

In reply to djdrastic

We need more pure voopers.

I feel your pain Holder; it's like asking you to build a brick house when you were given straw. But my advise to you is, play your best 11, and hope for the best. Here is my suggested team: 1. Brathwaite 2. Ramdin 3.Bravo 4. Dowrich 5. Samuel 6. Blackwood 7. Holder 8. K Brathwaite 9. Taylor 10. Roach 11.Warrican. If we bat first, Ramdin should be the wicketkeeper but if we bat second, Dowrich should keep. Ramdin has opened once for Windies in 2008, against Styrn, Ntini, Nel, and Kallis and had a good 35 or so. He is a much better batsman than what his average suggests; we just maybe need to help him see himself as a batsman.

In reply to CaribbeanCricket.com

They don't need to look for excuses....no need....

In reply to seko

It would be too difficult to find excuses since they have exhausted them all – he would have to recycle some old ones. He should have said – check the excuse archives and chose whichever you like – take your pick.

In reply to birdseye

touche...,