SYDNEY, Australia (CMC) – Chris Gayle is hoping his inexperienced squad learnt the harsh lessons dictated to them by Australia after the reigning World Cup holders clobbered his hapless West Indies in a lopsided eight-wicket win with 50 balls to spare yesterday.

The result of the series-ending second Twenty20 International completed a 6-0 record for Australia against a Caribbean side that contested the tour without several of their key players.

“Hopefully we can treat it as a learning experience as it was a young team. We senior players are not going to be around for ever and these guys are the future,” said Gayle.

“It was a good opportunity for them to stand up against a big team, get some runs and take some wickets,” added Gayle, who was very disappointing on the trip and part of a perennial top-order batting collapse that rendered the Caribbean side impotent against the home side.

Gayle, who had boldly predicted at the start of the series that West Indies would beat Australia 4-1, averaged only 13.75 in the five-match One Day International (ODI) series and 8.50 in the T20s and conceded that they were no match for Australia.

“It has been a tough summer. We have been hammered into the ground and have lost fair and square,” Gayle said.

Batting veterans Shivnarine Chanderpaul and Ramnaresh Sarwan, all-rounder Dwayne Bravo, and frontline fast bowlers Jerome Taylor and Fidel Edwards were among seven

West Indies players not considered for the series because of injury.

Yesterday’s result meant West Indies finished the tour winless following their 4-0 loss in the preceding five-match one-day series and their 38-run defeat in the opening T20I in Hobart on Sunday.

The Australians completed their home summer with an immaculate record, having also played undefeated against touring Pakistan.