JOEL GARNER is making no excuses for a highly-disappointing performance by the West Indies ÒAÓ team on the just-concluded ill-fated tour of South Africa.

The West Indies ÒAÓ manager says the team was thoroughly outplayed by opponents who were much more experienced.

Jimmy AdamsÕ boys, let down by inept batting, suffered an embarrassing whitewash in the three-match ÒTestÓ series and were also easily brushed aside in two limited-overs matches.

Garner, the giant former West Indies fast bowler, singled out the batting as the main area of disappointment.

ÒWeÕre looking for excuses for failure; but if you look at overall performance, the batting never clicked,Ó he told NATIONSPORT.

ÒThe batting was poor. The problem was that nobody scored runs apart from the captain.Ó

In highlighting the development of Barbadian left-arm pacer Pedro Collins, fellow fast bowler Nixon McLean and all-rounder Laurie Williams, Garner said they were never backed by the batsmen.

ÒWhen you play cricket, you cannot be strong in just one area. Cricket is a total game, whether it be batting, bowling or fielding,Ó he said.

ÒThe bowlers tried their best, but they did not have targets to bowl at. The fielding could have been improved. Our fielding wasnÕt anything to shout about.Ó

Garner, who took 259 Test wickets in an outstanding career that ended in 1987, was not totally critical.

ÒThere is optimism (for the future). I will deal with most of the issues in my report. I hope it is taken seriously. We need to work on our weaknesses.Ó

Inexperience was another area mentioned by Garner where the West Indies reserves fell short. Only five players Ð Adams, Ottis Gibson, Robert Samuels, Floyd Reifer and Suruj Ragoonath Ð had played more than 30 first-class matches before the start of the tour.

ÒWhen you reach that level of cricket it is the finished input and more or less we had a fairly inexperienced team. Most of the South Africans had played between 60 to 80 first-class games.Ó