Adams refuses to discuss future as Windies tour ends

MELBOURNE - Embattled West Indies captain Jimmy Adams again refused to speculate on his future after the side's miserable tour of Australia finally came to an close here last night.

The Windies' ended their tour without beating Australia in a single game. The home side clinched the tri-series finals in straight games last night after also whipping the tourists in all four preliminary hitouts.

Their tri-series debacle came on top of a 5-0 whitewash in the Test series making Adams the least successful Windies' captain ever in Australia.

The left-handed batsman is under great pressure to maintain the leadership for the Windies' upcoming home series against South Africa.

However, he refused to discuss the captaincy position when asked if he expected to remain in the job after last night's 39 run loss at the MCG.

"I'm going to shy away from that one," he said.

"We'll just have to see what happens."

Australian skipper Steve Waugh, who became this country's first leader ever to go through a domestic summer in charge of an unbeaten side, said he felt sorry for Adams.

"Jimmy would be doing it tough at the moment," Waugh said.

"I feel sorry for him, he's a really good fellow."

"He's going to go back to the West Indies and cop a bit of stick."

Whether he also cops the sack remains to be seen but certainly he wore the look of a totally beaten man last night at the end of a draining tour. When asked his overriding feeling he replied: "At the minute I'm just so tired."

"It's been the mentally hardest tour I've ever been on."

However, Adams said at least his team went down with a fight last night, after making 299 in reply to Australia's 6/338, an effort which was in stark contrast to most of their insipid performances throughout a lop-sided summer.

"It was always going to be a big ask, chasing 330 odd," he said.

"But I couldn't fault the efforts of the players, I was happy with their level of output."

The Windies return to the Caribbean on Monday night and face about two months of domestic cricket before the arrival of the South Africans