I APPLAUD but do not share the confidence of West Indies captain Chris Gayle as the regional team begins another tour of South Africa.

Nothing should be read into the games played in Zimbabwe. The results achieved in the one-day internationals in that country were all expected against the weakest team in the world. The Zimbabwe tour was really just a sideshow to keep the home team busy. Now it's on to the real reason for being in southern Africa.

With their inconsistent form and low rating, it will take close to a miracle for the West Indies to be competitive against one of the world's strongest cricket-playing countries.

On their last tour of South Africa in 2003-04, the West Indies, with a stronger team than they now have, were mauled by the hosts. The Caribbean team lost the Test series 3-0 and went down 3-1 in the five-match one-day internationals after one game ended in a no-result.

Batting too weak

The West Indies' most prolific batsman on that tour, former captain Brian Lara, is now retired. Ramnaresh Sarwan, who was also outstanding, is now injured and will not make the trip. Gayle and Shivnarine Chanderpaul are still there but the batting will be too weak to trouble the South Africans. Runako Morton, Marlon Samuels, Daren Ganga and Dwayne Bravo are just not good enough to give the hosts any sleepless nights.

On the last tour, Lara scored 531 runs for an average of 66.37, Gayle's average was 61.00 (366 runs), Sarwan's 49.00 (392) and Chanderpaul's 47.77 (286).

Compare this to South Africa, who still have in Jacques Kallis, captain Graeme Smith and Herschelle Gibbs, the three batsmen who hit the West Indies bowlers all over the park in the four-Test series. Kallis batted just six times and scored 712 runs in the four-Test series for an excellent average of 178.00, Gibbs 583 at 116.60 and Smith 418 at an average of 69.66.

The inexperience of their bowling attack will also be a problem for the West Indies. Only Fidel Edwards remains from the pace attack of four years ago. In 2003-04 the leading bowlers were Mervyn Dillon, Vasbert Drakes, Corey Collymore, Adam Sanford and part-timers Wavell Hinds and Dwayne Smith. Edwards had most wickets - eight - at 81.00 runs apiece.

Complete overhaul

While the West Indies attack has had a complete overhaul, South Africa's is still packed with some experienced campaigners in Shaun Pollock, Andre Nel, Makhaya Ntini and Kallis. Then, there is the fast-rising Dale Steyn who is the form bowler for South Africa just now. Ntini took 29 wickets in the last series, Nel 22 and Pollock 16. There is nothing, therefore, to suggest that the West Indies, who are still ranked in the bottom half of both the Test and one-day rankings, will be able to turn around the results of four years ago. On another matter, I would also like to agree with Joey Carew in his current assessment of the captaincy debate. Bravo is just too inexperinced to be the West Indies vice-captain. Ganga was the vice- captain on the last major tour in England and, once selected, he should have retained that position.

The selectors should have taken into consideration the fact that Ganga has been the long-time captain of Trinidad and Tobago and is one who has helped to guide the career of Bravo.

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