West Indies' chance to move closer to the top teams

Thu, Jan 31, '13

Darren Sammy's team will begin their 2013 programme of international cricket on Friday with a limited-overs series in Australia. Ask them privately and some of the West Indians would have probably been happy to still be back on their islands, easing into the new year. In December they were trekking back from Asia, having lost the ODI series 2-3 to Bangladesh after winning the two Tests. Now they turn up in Australia for five ODIs and one T20. One could well ask, why bother?