Allan Border has bemoaned the West Indies becoming a "rabble", tipping the three-Test series in Australia this summer will be a fizzer.
The West Indies have named a 15-man squad for the upcoming series in Australia, which starts on December 10 in Hobart.
Chris Gayle, Darren Sammy, Dwayne Bravo and Kieron Pollard aren't part of it.
Cricket fans will have to wait until the Big Bash League before they witness the Caribbean's best players in the flesh.
Gayle, Sammy and Bravo have played 181 Tests between them, but have not represented the struggling West Indies in the long form of the game for more than a year.
Instead, they will spend their Australian summer representing Adelaide Strikers (Pollard), Hobart Hurricanes (Sammy) and the Melbourne Renegades (Gayle and Bravo) in the BBL.
Border, who captained Australia when the West Indies were the dominant force of world cricket, lamented the state of play.
"The West Indies ... they're a bit of a rabble in this day and age unfortunately," Border told radio station SEN.
"It's a real shame that the players are at real loggerheads with the board.
"You think back to the 70s and 80s and into the 90s - they were just unbelievable cricket teams.
"They've just fallen away so badly in recent times."
Border tipped the series - which features matches at Bellerive, the MCG and SCG - would be "one-way traffic".
"Hopefully there's some young players in that squad that can step up," he said.
West Indian selectors opted to stick with the same 15-man squad that recently lost both matches of their two-Test series against Sri Lanka.
Phil Simmons returns as coach, having been forgiven by the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) for publicly questioning their failure to select Bravo and Pollard in their 50-over squad in September.
"I regret my public outburst during a press conference ... and the revelation of the vote that took place at the selection meeting," said Simmons in an audio apology released by the WICB.
"I extend a public apology to all whom I may have offended. I have personally apologised to my fellow selectors and the WICB and now do so again publicly.
"I am looking forward to putting this behind me and doing the job I enjoy with the West Indies' senior men's teams."
Jason Holder again retains his role as captain for the series, where the West Indies will be looking to win back the Frank Worrell Trophy for the first time since 1993.
Squad: Jason Holder (capt), Kraigg Brathwaite, Devendra Bishoo, Jermaine Blackwood, Carlos Brathwaite, Darren Bravo, Rajindra Chandrika, Shane Dowrich, Shannon Gabriel, Shai Hope, Denesh Ramdin, Kemar Roach, Marlon Samuels, Jerome Taylor, Jomel Warrican.
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