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The Super Six round of the World Cup gets underway today with Australia and India, two former champions, squaring off at The Oval in the first of what promises to be nine thrilling encounters before the top four move into the semi-finals.

With Pakistan, another former champion, South Africa, New Zealand and Zimbabwe the other teams still in contention, those missing in action include the West Indies - champions in 1975 and 1979, Sri Lanka - the outgoing champions, and England who, for the first time, failed to move out of the first round.

For those three Test-playing teams it was a bitter disappointment if not so much for Sri Lanka, who probably did not fancy their chances and won two matches and lost three, certainly for the West Indies and England who had their eyes on the Cup and who, like Australia and New Zealand in one group, India and Zimbabwe in the other, finished with identical records of three victories and two losses but failed to advance because of inferior runrate.

As disappointing as it was for their fans, however, based on their performances none of them deserved a place in the Super Six. They all batted badly and with the West Indies losing to Pakistan and Australia and defeating New Zealand, Bangladesh and Scotland, with England losing to South Africa and India and defeating Sri Lanka, Zimbabwe and Kenya and with Sri Lanka losing to South Africa, England and India and defeating Zimbabwe and Kenya, they all lost to the good teams and defeated those they were expected to defeat. On top of that, they failed to rise to the occasion.

When the West Indies played Australia, victory for the Windies would have sent them into the second round and knocked out Australia. They lost easily. And when England played India, victory for the hosts would have sent them through. They too lost easily.

In contrast to those performances, while the West Indies and England failed to make it because they played true to form and failed to rise to the occasion, India, one-two down after three, made it because they defeated Sri Lanka and then England, New Zealand got in because they eclipsed Australia, Australia got in because they routed the West Indies and, in the surprise of the tournament, Zimbabwe crashed the party not only because they upset India early but because, with the door closing on them and a moment of glory beckoning, they knocked off South Africa in their final match of the round.

Looking back at the West Indies performance, there may have been many reasons for it and fingers will be pointed at captain Brian Lara, not only for his poor batting but also for some strange bowling changes and his field-placings against Bangladesh and New Zealand, and having failed to make it on net runrate, at both Lara and manager Clive Lloyd for the team's lack of urgency - especially against Bangladesh when, despite losing only three wickets, the West Indies took 46.3 overs to reach the target of 183 runs.

The truth, however, is that the West Indies were knocked out of the World Cup because of their poor batting and their batting did not go bad during the World Cup.

The Windies batting has been poor for some time. It was poor in Pakistan where they lost all three Test matches, in South Africa where they lost all five Test matches and six of the seven one-day internationals, and but for Lara, it was, apart from a few good innings here and there by James Adams, Sherwin Campbell and Ridley Jacobs, poor against Australia.

To drop out of the World Cup after the first round was disappointing, but despite all the hope, it was not surprising, and despite all the talk about what the West Indies Board should do, the West Indies performance, but for the days when the big guns strike, will continue to be disappointing until the governments in the region, the territorial boards, the clubs and the schools do something about it.

Apart from selecting the best players, the West Indies Board, as the ruling body, obviously has a role to play. The West Indies team, however, is only the showpiece of West Indies cricket. Development, which includes good technique and character, pride and responsibility, must start at the lower levels.

The West Indies selectors can only select from what is presented to them. Right now, especially where batting and fielding are concerned, there is not much from which to select. That is what is disappointing.