Personally I don't think the Australians of late 90 early 00s would have stood a chance against the West Indies at their peak. There is too much self doubt and nervousness about their potential fallibility lurking beneath the surface of the Australians mental state to make them truly unbeatable. Once you got past the bravado and arrogance then the self doubt would make them liable to implode (and that was even when Steve Waugh was at his peak). They are almost unable to operate fully without the ability to sledge as they see that as an vital part of their game plan.
Although I wasn't in their class, I was lucky (unlucky) enough to face some of the West Indian bowlers at the end of their peak period. The taller bowlers - Walsh, Ambrose, Garner, Croft etc - were fearsome but you could adapt a method of protecting your ribs, or jabbing down on a yorker (although this method didn't add many runs to the scoreboard). I didn't face Holding (and didn't want to at the time), the long silky smooth straight run-up would have had you terrified before he reached the crease. The most difficult bowler was undoubtedly Malcom Marshall - the angular, bouncey, fast run-up and quick arm action from a relatively low height made it so difficult to pick up the length and the ball would skid at your throat before you could judge how to get into position. There was an even smaller guy from Antigua named Vaughan Walsh (google his time in league cricket in the UK) who was quicker than Marshall and loved to hit batsmen. He was again terrifying, but he had a poor attitude and dislike of authority so never made it past the Leeward Islands team. Nice memories, but not fun at the time.
A previous poster mentioned Larry Gomes. I always felt he was such an important part of the West Indian team if their pomp - if the destructive more glamorous batsmen had a bad day he would always be a thorn in the opponents side and help the team recover (a little like Chanderpaul subsequently). Very much an unsung hero.
