BRISBANE, Australia,  CMC – With West Indies’ marketability seemingly on the decline, tickets sales for next  Thursday’s opening Test at the Gabba are expected to fall below the Caribbean side’s previous tour here four years ago.

By yesterday, officials had already sold 24 000 tickets and with four days left before the first match of the three-Test rubber bowled off, they were expecting sales to continue steadily and match those for last year’s Test against New Zealand.

Then, 38 753 spectators watched Australia beat the Black Caps in less than four days in the series which finished 2-0 in favour of the hosts.

If sales continue along this path, they will fall way short of the 51 230 spectators who turned up at the Gabba for the opening Test of the three-match series four years ago, when West Indies went down inside four days by 379 runs.