Leaning On Lara, And Too Weak In The Tail

The West Indies team has been in the process of rebuilding during the past six  or seven years, and this has been very visible in the last two years. It was adisaster not making it to the finals of the World Series Cup (WSC). I really thoughtmidway through the Australia tour that we were coming back well but the Sri Lankansoutplayed us.

We didn’t play well in England last summer and that led to a spate ofcontroversies: the confrontation between the team and the board and the Brian Lara issue.Questions were asked about Richie Richardson’s captaincy, whether he was producingenough as a player to be captain. Such problems are nothing new, but were glossed over inthe past since we were winning all the time.

Considering we set high cricketing standards over the last two decades, an immediatedrop is visible when the current team does not win regularly. But it’s not easy tochurn out players of the calibre of those of the Clive Lloyd era. The void is visible andthe team we have is the best we can produce.

Brian Lara’s return to the team should make a big difference, but the teamshouldn’t depend excessively on him. You can’t expect Lara to score all thetime. He has set himself high standards and can’t avoid the pressure. One person whodisappoints me is Carl Hooper, who has pulled out of the tournament. He’s a classplayer who hadn’t yet delivered the goods and this was the time the team probablyneeded him most.

Richardson hasn’t scored the volume of runs he should score. ShivnaraineChanderpaul may not destroy sides but will accumulate runs. Phil Simmons, who can be agood one-day player, hasn’t scored that many runs either. But Roger Harper’scoming back into the team as an all-rounder does not speak highly of West Indies cricketand shows we don’t have enough young players to pick from . A lot will depend onCurtly Ambrose, Courtney Walsh and Ian Bishop on the bowling front.

The other point is that the team has a long tail. Apart from Ottis Gibson who had agood run in Australia, Bishop can handle himself a little bit, providing he doesn’tbreak down. And that leaves Ambrose and Walsh who are not the best number 10 or 11 unlikeAndy Roberts, Michael Holding and Malcolm Marshall who handled themselves well at thebottom. So even if the top struggled, we would have a good total to bowl at as thesetailenders would have chipped in. We are looking at a very tough situation, butthat’s the best we can do at the moment and we have to go in with confidence .

The West Indies, like Australia, Sri Lanka, South Africa and England, have been playinga lot of cricket and could be tired physically and mentally. Injuries are a vital point asyou have only 14 players to pick from. Ambrose, I felt after watching him in a WSC matchagainst Sri Lanka, needs to be well - rested before the tournament. Richardson and Walshtoo have been facing niggling injuries but with the amount of cricket being played now,especially one-day cricket, every team is bound to carry injuries.

Basically, all the sides are of the same calibre , tactically playing the same type ofcricket and there ’s no team which you can say is going to run away with the Cup. TheWest Indies are under a lot of pressure because they are constantly compared to the teamsof the past. This can psychologically affect the players. At the same time, considering wehave won the Cup twice and in style, we hope we go into the tournament with high hopes andso perform better.