New West Indies coach Gus Logie claims that for his team to respect him, he must first earn their respect.
Logie was at the time responding to questions from the media at the end of the first test match at Bourda yesterday which the West Indies lost by nine wickets, `inside’ four days.
The coach was also asked about captain Brian Lara’s absence from the press briefing. Logie said he was asked by management to be there and that is all he could say.
The media were informed by `media attache’ for the West Indies team Adriel Richards, that `management’ had informed him that Lara would be unavailable for questions.
This is not the first time that Lara has snubbed media appearances and it certainly is not a good sign of the maturity that he claims to have developed of recent.
Coach Logie also revealed that he was not a selector for the team and when pressed to clarify his comment, said, “at this point in time I am not a selector, so I cannot comment on the team because I was not involved in selecting the team.”
The coach said that it was disappointing that the West Indies lost but they still have hope for the future since there were some good individual performances.
Logie mentioned Shivnarine Chanderpaul’s century in the first innings and the subsequent centuries of skipper Lara and Darren Ganga (who got his first), in the second innings, and to a lesser extent debutante Devon Smith who made 62 in the second innings and Vasbert Drakes who took five, first innings wickets.
The coach also credited opener Wavel Hinds with a good all-round team effort and lauded his attitude after he was wicket-keeping all day and still came out to open the second innings for the Windies. Logie stressed that with all the negative things that have been happening around the team of recent, said that it was still good to see the team have a positive attitude nevertheless.
The coach reiterated that, “we probably did not do well in terms of runs and wickets but the attitude of the players is very positive.”
Logie lamented the fact that the bowlers were inconsistent throughout the match except for Drakes who put in a good performance.
He said that the West Indies must however put that behind them and strive to do better next time.
The coach said, “what we are trying to create is an environment which is conducive for the players to do well.” He continued, “it was a positive that we were 252 behind and we were still able to make them [Australia] bat again.”
He added, “we have to work harder in the bowling department and in the batting we need bigger partnerships.”
According to Logie team spirit will be have to be improved step by step.
Australian captain Steve Waugh who was quizzed by the media subsequently, said that he was proud of the way his side clinically finished off the West Indies second innings.
The Aussie skipper heaped praise on fast bowler Jason Gillespie who took four of the five West Indian wickets to fall on the fourth day.
Waugh was asked about the performance of West Indies skipper Brian Lara and said that his team was glad when he got out because he was threatening to take the game away from them.
He however revealed that the Aussies would not mind Lara scoring a hundred every time they play, providing that they win in the end.
Waugh said the end result is what matters and that every time they play a test match, they play to win.
He added though that Australia cannot afford to be complacent even with the margin of victory in the first test and so they will continue playing `hard’ cricket.
The Aussie captain was asked about the role of third umpires especially with regard to reviewing LBW decisions and said, “I don’t necessarily agree with the third umpire for LBW decisions, cricket is a great game and I know sometimes people make mistakes but we can’t come down too hard on the umpires.”
Gillespie who shared the briefing with his captain said that his side plays as a team and he had not been bowling too well in the second innings and so he decided to up his bowling the next day.
According to Gillespie, at the end of the day, taking twenty wickets is what matters and his team is focused on achieving that each match they play.
The Aussie `quickie’ said that it was an accepted fact that premiere fast bowler Glen McGrath is not with the team at the moment but that the Aussies do not necessarily rely on one individual but play as a team while doing their jobs to the best of their abilities.
Gillespie claimed that it was tenuous bowling at Bourda for fast bowlers but that they stuck to their task and it paid off in the end.