Windies face 'impossible' task

West Indies legend Brian Lara is holding little hope his once powerful team will return to their glory days anytime soon, and says it will be "virtually impossible" for them to topple Australia in their two-Test series in June.

Australia named a powerful 16-man squad on Tuesday for the Tests in Dominica and Jamaica, which will lead into their Ashes defence in the UK in July and August.

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The world's No.2 ranked Test nation and 50-over World Cup champions will face a West Indies side that has won just five Test series in the past five years; three against Bangladesh and one each against Zimbabwe and New Zealand.

Led by wicketkeeper-batsman Denesh Ramdin, a 20-man training group will gather on April 5 ahead of a three-Test series against England before the fight for the Frank Worrell Trophy begins with the first Test in Roseau, which gets underway on June 5.

The series against England will be the first under new coach and former Windies allrounder Phil Simmons, who signed a three-year contract after eight years as coach of Ireland.

The Windies squad for the Tests against Australia is yet to be confirmed, but is set to feature veterans Shivnarine Chanderpaul, Marlon Samuels and Sulieman Benn, as well as promising youngsters like ODI skipper Jason Holder, and batsmen Darren Bravo and Kraigg Brathwaite.

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Lara during his double-century at the SCG in 1993 // Getty Images

Lara says given the Windies are in a rebuilding phase, they have little chance of being able to match Michael Clarke's world-class side.

"I think it's going to be tough for us," Lara told Fox Sports.

"Obviously we're playing the world champions, they're full of confidence, even though it's in another form of the game.

"In Test cricket, the West Indies tend to struggle a bit. I think the attrition level is not there.

"We seem to like the T20, we won that World Cup a couple of World Cups ago.

"I just think in the Test matches, Australia are going to be virtually impossible to beat.

"I would expect a younger team, which lends itself to a bit of failure.

"But as long as you have your priorities set. If it's rebuilding the team, results really doesn't matter.

"It's about getting the youngsters in, getting them the experience against the best team in the world and moving on."

The Windies' training squad for the England series gave an insight into the future of cricket in the Caribbean with highly-rated quick bowlers Miguel Cummins (24) and Carlos Brathwaite (26) joining wicketkeeper-batsmen Shane Dowrich (23) and Shai Hope (21) as the four uncapped players in the squad.

But Lara says rejuvenating the senior side with new talent will do little to reverse the slide of the once dominant cricketing power.

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Lara pulls during the series against Australia in 1999 // Getty Images

"That's not the main issue with West Indies cricket," he said.

"It's not about whether seasoned players should leave and young players come in.

"It's really about the infrastructure that we have, or the lack of infrastructure. We're very poor in that department.

"Our cricket has been down for quite some time and I really don't see it turning around in the near future."

The first of three Tests against England starts in Antigua on April 13.

West Indies training squad
Sulieman Benn, Devendra Bishoo, Jermaine Blackwood, Carlos Brathwaite, Kraigg Brathwaite, Darren Bravo, Shivnarine Chanderpaul, Sheldon Cottrell, Miguel Cummins, Shane Dowrich, Shannon Gabriel, Jason Holder, Shai Hope, Leon Johnson, Veerasammy Permaul, Denesh Ramdin, Kemar Roach, Marlon Samuels, Devon Smith, Jerome Taylor