Downright Windies incompetence
COMMENT
It is said in local parlance that time is longer than twine and in the context of West Indies cricket, the regional team's time has surely run out on the Caribbean people's patience with their continued failures on the field The team's ignominious exit from the World Cup competition at the first round stage yesterday is the latest in a rash of embarrassments West Indians have had to endure from a team with a proud tradition of success in the past. When New Zealand thrashed Scotland yesterday to achieve their 122-run target off 21.2 overs--surpassing West Indies on net run rate--to secure the final place for the Super Sixes stage, it marked the third time the Caribbean side had exited the tournament in the first round. It is distressing that the West Indies, which so far are the lone two-time title holders in seven tournaments, and have finished in the top four twice, seemingly cannot now cope with the new demands of the competition and win more laurels like in the time of less sophistication and science. There was a lot of talk of West Indies doing very well in England by the region's cricket fraternity and the players themselves, but as the tournament progressed it became palpably clear that such talk was merely hopes and aspirations. The team was woefully lacking in every department of the game except the fast bowling aspect. The brittle batting was compounded by inept captaincy and poor overall management. Team selection was disgraceful and they seemingly never recovered from the blunder in the first match which hung over the team like a curse thereafter. It is difficult to comprehend the oversight by manager Clive Lloyd and coach Malcolm Marshall, two of the most experienced West Indian cricketers of English conditions, failing to see the need for more than three fast bowlers in a one-day competition in May in England, where the conditions are more conducive than anywhere else to that type of bowling, with a white ball. Something must be seriously wrong with the decision-making policy within the team. Surely Lloyd who led the two West Indies teams to World Cup victory cannot be part of such blundering. Ricardo Powell's omission after the Pakistan game is also a classic when it is taken into account that Stuart Williams has been failing, since the tour of Pakistan two years ago. Not even in the warm-up World Cup games did Williams make an impression and it was a sin to omit the 20-year-old Jamaican who was fast to adapt in the games against Warwickshire and Surrey, with two electrifying innings. Admittedly he failed against Pakistan which presented a very strong bowling attack, but it was his very first one-day international. He should have played against the softer Bangladesh lineup. In that match when they eventually batted, they adopted a pedestrian approach and took 46.3 overs to score 183 runs against one of the weakest attacks in the competition at that time. Such was the planning of the team, that no one seemed to have taken the time to envision that run rate might be a factor in qualifying, although the team had already lost one match. The same can be said of the approach against New Zealand when they took 44.2 overs to score 156 runs. A little bit of urgency in those games would have bettered their eventual net run rate and New Zealand would have been going home after the first round instead. Again in the game against Australia on Sunday, some of the bowlers showed no appreciation of the Aussies' benevolence and the match ended with two wides and a bouncer no-ball despite the opposition's quest to prolong the match to boost West Indies' chances of qualifying. Phil Simmons and Merv Dillon seemed more eager to end the game instead of playing along with the Australians. Such slackness can only be attributed to the captain who needed to communicate more with his bowlers and who overall, had a poor day in the field. He showed little imagination in his use of the bowlers and in field placing and still did not seem to comprehend that attack was the only way to dismiss Australia. Compared to the other established teams, West Indies were lacking on the field and in the dressing room and we paid dearly.
By Donald Duff CRICKET-loving fans in Guyana yesterday expressed their disappointment at their team's ignominious exit from the seventh World Cup after the preliminary stages of the competition. The West Indies failed to advance after New Zealand dismissed the flimsy opposition posed by newcomers Scotland for 120 and reached their target well within the 21-overs limit, scoring 123-4 in 17.5 overs to advance through a superior net run rate at the expense of West Indies, to the Super Six play-offs along with Pakistan and Australia from Group B. National Bank of Industry and Commerce employee and avid cricket fan Sherwin Greaves yesterday said: "I feel very, very, very disheartened and very sad." "However I feel the poor performance is a result of poor team selection," he added. "In the first game against Pakistan, a game of such magnitude, we played only three frontline bowlers. This, I feel, was asking for trouble and it came back to haunt us," Greaves said. Greaves also said the West Indies poor selection of the team was further emphasized in the other matches. "The West Indies carried a frontline off-spinner Nehemiah Perry, who, in four matches did not play a game. Probably, they should have carried another batsman. "We were also exposed in the recycling of old players who were proven failures before, players like Stuart Williams, Keith Arthurton and Phil Simmons. While one might argue that Simmons knew the English conditions, one needed to look at his international record in England where he is a failure," he pointed out. Greaves said the West Indies overdependence on one batsman Brian Lara was also uncovered since, a lot of the batsmen (Jimmy Adams for example) seemed unable to bat without Lara at the other end. "A lot of people got carried away with the performance against Australia in the recent series in the Caribbean but you have got to look at the fact that without Lara the West Indies would probably have been bowled out for 51 every game. He suggests that the time is ripe for the West Indies selectors to take stock of the team, get rid of the dead weight and bring in fresh blood, players with attitude like Ridley Jacobs. Another cricket follower Arlene London said she was not surprised by West Indies' early exit. "Frankly speaking, I was not surprised, judging from their previous performances and judging from some of the persons in the team. London said players like Phil Simmons, Stuart Williams and the non-inclusion of Franklyn Rose among other things contributed to their demise. "They are too dependent on a few persons especially in the bowling and batting departments," she said. "As usual Ridley Jacobs stood out and to a lesser extent Shivnarine Chanderpaul. I won't say I am disappointed. It's not that I had high hopes. I was basically sitting back to see what they would have done." And avid cricket enthusiast Vannie Devers, whose husband is a former national under-19 cricketer said she was bitterly disappointed that the West Indies were knocked out of the tournament. "I am a very supportive West Indies fan and I missed a lot of sleep to watch the West Indies on television and even though I felt we would not have won the World Cup, I was almost certain we would have gotten into the semi-finals along with Pakistan (my choice for the winner of the World Cup) South Africa, a very good example of a professional side, and Australia." Devers added: "Our bowlers were excellent but the captaincy and the batting let us down even though Ridley Jacobs is a very good example of a player fighting for his team." Devers blames the players, the administrators and the selectors for the present plight. "Planning and foresight both on and off the field seem to be sadly lacking in the West Indies team. "It is time that the West Indies Cricket Board make drastic changes if our cricket is to return to where it was in the 1980's."
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