With only two wins and 14 defeats in their last 21 Tests, 5all is not well in West Indies world, and in the age of two-and three-dimensional cricketers, they are not helped by having one of the worst tails in living memory. Step forward Mervyn Dillon, Dinanath Ramnarine, Pedro Collins, Cameron Cuffy, Marlon Black, Colin Stuart, Neil McGarrell and even Ridley Jacobs. These are the men who have batted between Nos 8 and 11 for West Indies since the start of their recent series in Sri Lanka (nightwatchman promoted up the order are counted as batting between 8 and 11). In the five since then they have managed a pathetic 98 runs between them in 40 innings.

Take away the six not-outs, and they are still only averaging 2.88 per innings. This is only just over half Alan Mullally's Test average, and Mullally is a watchword for tailend incompetence.

Worse still, out of those 40 innings, there have been 25 failures to score, only four of which have been not-outs. In other words, over half of their Nos 8 to 11 have been dismissed for ducks. It's all enough to make England's legendary tail at The Oval in 1999 – Mullally, Tufnell, Giddins – look good.

Rob Smyth is on the staff of Wisden.com.

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