Caribbean joy for Aussies

Source: Agencies  |   2008-6-18  |     NEWSPAPER EDITION

WEST Indies need to emulate Australia's mental toughness and ruthless approach if they are to progress to the next level, Shivnarine Chanderpaul said after his side lost the third test by 87 runs on Monday.

Chanderpaul, who was named Man of the Series, said West Indies have progressed throughout the series but there were lessons to be learnt from Australia, which took the series 2-0.

Stuart Clark and Beau Casson took three wickets each and Australia withstood a defiant West Indies to seal the 87-run victory midway through the final day.

"Obviously the toughness, the way the Aussies play their cricket. They have the killer instinct, going out there and wanting to finish the job," Chanderpaul said.

"What we can learn from this series is that you go out there and never give up, you play all the way, you fight all the way, and as a young team you can carry on and work on making yourself better," added the left-hander who scored two centuries and carried his bat three times during the series.

The Guyanese batsman, who at 33 is the elder statesman of the squad, said the lack of experience in the side made it harder for new players to adapt to test cricket.

"It's kind of a little hard because we have a bunch of young fellas, they're learning but they're learning slowly. When I came into the team we had a bunch of senior fellas around who played their cricket and played tough. So it was easy for me to learn from them but we have a whole heap of young fellas and it's going to be difficult.

"We're trying to mould them and they're learning, but learning slowly and at this level you have to learn fast," he said.

Australia skipper Ricky Ponting said he was impressed by the West Indies and there was little missing from the team in terms of talent.

"I don't think there's too much missing. Their bowling attack is pretty good at the moment. Their quicks did a good job through the series. Dwayne Bravo is a world-class allrounder, they had (captain and opening bat Chris) Gayle out for the majority of this series. Ramnaresh Sarwan and Chanderpaul are obviously terrific players."

Ponting also expressed satisfaction with his side. "I'm really happy. Everyone's been talking about this transition phase that our team's been going through," Ponting said. "It's right, we are going through that sort of transition, we've lost six or seven players in the last 12 months. But we're still beating teams. We're still winning tests and series."

"You couldn't ask for a better start for (wicketkeeper) Brad Haddin and (new spinner) Beau Casson and even Simon Katich coming back in the side. I'm really happy with where we're at, at the moment."

He singled out Katich, who scored centuries in the second and third test, Clark, who bowled consistently and took crucial wickets, as well as allrounder Andrew Symonds had all shown improvement in this series.