EVER LIVED in a home with a 'bro', a 'sis', maybe even mom or dad, who wore shoes just smaller than your size?

You're at home, the light's gone and in the middle of the night, you have got to have good reason, and a very good one at that, to go outside.

Now, everyone generally leaves their shoes/slippers by the doorstep. So, without being able to see properly, you tuck your feet in one at the doorway believing it's yours.

Ouch! It doesn't fit, a bit uncomfortable, and depending on how you tuck in your toes, because it's on the other foot, it could get downright painful ... like those West Indies losses lately in the just-concluded Test and one-day international (ODI) series against Australia.

A whitewash, a whopping 5-0 in the one-dayers. Quite embarrassing, to say the least. And it was not much different in the Test series, in terms of straight results - 2-0 in three matches.

For the latter, there was some amount of consolation as the contests weren't as lopsided and could have actually gone the other way. Yes, it could've been 2-0 in the Windies' favour, or even better given the drawn second Test in rain-foiled circumstances. It ended with the Windies needing 105 to win with five wickets intact.

MASSIVE RUN CHASE

Australia won the first Test by 95 runs, after scoring 431 and 167 and dismissing the West Indies for 312 and 191.

The West Indies lost the third Test by 87 runs, after scoring 216 and 387 in reply to the visitors' 251 and 439-5. At one stage, the West Indies were 303-3 in the massive 475-run chase.

But for the fourth match that the Windies lost by one run, the ODI series was a no-contest. Australia won the first by 84 runs, the second by 63, the third by seven wickets and the fifth by a mammoth 169 runs.

In the fourth, Australia made 282 for two off 50 wickets; and the Windies 281 for six off their allotment. Now that was real painful, especially with the West Indies needing 12 runs to win off 17 balls with five wickets remaining; and eight off the last over, six balls, with four wickets remaining.

POOR RUNNING

Denesh Ramdin and Darren Sammy played six singles, which could not have won the match. None even attempted to get caught, you know, by taking that chance to secure the victory.

Even when it came down to the last ball, they didn't try to attempt the second at the expense of a run- out. One run could not have won the match. One run meant the West Indies lost.

Frankly, I'm not for the knee-jerk sort of thing, but none of the two would have played the final one-dayer - a message needed to be sent. You have to try to win the game.

A lot of it, though, has to do with the level where Windies cricket is now. There doesn't seem to be a level of belief necessary to get the result against top-tier teams like Australia. And there is also a shortage of talent.

deficiency

The team's captain, Chris Gayle, sounded off on that deficiency while lashing out at the selectors. And he's absolutely right. You can't trial against the best team in the world, especially at home where the need to be competitive is far more siginficant to maintain decent results, interest and the growth of the sport.

Attendance at the grounds was poor and that is most reflective of the lack of interest. People will pay for a good product, inclusive of good players and performances.

In recent times, the West Indies have been very competitive in ODIs and have improved in Tests when they have just about every single player fit from a group numbering about 12 to 13.

As occurred towards the back-end of the South Africa series and then against Australia, as soon as one of two of the front-line batsmen like Gayle, Shivnarine Chanderpaul or Ramnaresh Sarwan, or bowlers such as Jerome Taylor and Fidel Edwards get injured, then the team gets badly weakened.

The West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) needs to get its marketing team playing overtime to get financing for a league which keeps the best players from the region engaged for at least nine months every year, and especially at the time when it's involved in an international series.

There was a time when regardless of the challenge, there was every confidence that the Windies would rise to the occasion and win the match - and they generally did. Those were in the glory days when the Michael Holdings, Sir Viv Richards, Clive Lloyds, Joel Garners, Gordon Greenidges, Desmond Hayneses, Malcolm Marshalls, etc, were honing their talent in the English County Championships.

PLAYERS SEPARATED

Then, the West Indies, even when they slumped, could rise above any challenge and win, because they were simply better than the opponent.

Not so nowadays. The regional season is over in a good breath and the West Indian players who are now playing in England are, mostly, separated from the team. And, there isn't an abundance of exceptional talent here, the type that's needed to squeeze out the victories in the really tight ODI and Test situations.

It's uncomfortable, even painful at times, but that's just how it feels when the shoe's on the other foot.