Only complacency could impede further progress

Feb 12, 2009 Sports

West Indies Captain Chris Gayle drives straight down the ground during practice at the Antigua Recreation ground.

By Rawle Welch
It is a done deal; The West Indies selectors have sacked middle-order batsman Xavier Marshall and off-spinner Amit Jaggernauth and replaced them with the in-form Lendl Simmons and Ryan Hinds for the second test which starts tomorrow in Antigua.

Irrespective of which final eleven the West Indies decide on, fans and ardent supporters of the team must rally around the side as they seek to rediscover the level of consistent performances that once made them an invincible proposition to face.

With the three most established players in the side captain Chris Gayle, Shivnarine Chanderpaul and Ramnaresh Sarwan, already indicating that their wickets have a heavy price tag on them and the bowlers led by intelligent pacer Jerome Taylor supported by spinner Sulieman Benn and fellow fast bowlers Daren Powell and Fidel Edwards exhibiting the kind of discipline required at the highest level, it is difficult to see how England can extricate themselves from their current situation after such an embarrassing loss in Jamaica.

Even before they had arrived in the Caribbean, many of the English cricket experts had already written off the West Indies, referring to the tour as a warm-up for the side ahead of the Ashes series against Australia.
One now wonders what former England opener Geoff Boycott must be saying now after witnessing the Sabina debacle last Sunday.

Gayle and his men must reproduce a similar amount of discipline and patience that resulted in an easy win over the tourists and not attempt to divert from the tested and proven game plan.

It was a beautifully devised ploy that was executed to perfection and credit must go to the players who all stuck together and supported each other to gain the eventual outcome.

The captain led admirably from the front, sacrificing his usual swashbuckling style and adapting a more responsible approach which was evidenced even during the New Zealand.

Gayle’s recent relaxed and matured demeanour seems to have inspired the team and it could also be his guaranteed willingness to bear the consequences for any of the team’s indiscretions that has probably more than anything else been responsible for stimulating his players improved performance.

This is not to say Coach John Dyson has not played a major role in helping the team understand their responsibility to their fans and what the sport means to the West Indies.

He has repeatedly urged them to curb their instinctive habits and endeavour to read the game more and not rely on their natural talent.

More and more we are seeing natural talent in professional sports is becoming increasingly vulnerable to video analysis and application to hard work.

Many examples of these developments could be provided to emphasise this point, we just have to remember what Australia’s Glen McGrath did with Brian Lara, who to many was one of the greatest batsman to ever play the game. Time and again his inability to play certain deliveries was repeatedly exposed with the pace-man even going as far as predicting on one occasion when he would dismiss him.

It is now history that his prediction was accurate, but that does not diminish the fact that Lara was one of the most naturally gifted batsmen the game has ever seen.

Technology, however, played a significant role in identifying his weaknesses and they were expertly exploited by a few bowlers.

England's two top players Kevin Pietersen (left) and Andrew Flintoff seem to be contemplating the team's situation during a practice session at the Antigua Recreation ground.

Back to the Antigua Test match, the West Indies just as they did from the start of the tour when the ‘A’ team plundered over 500 runs against the English attack, must not let them settle in any department, they must bowl at them accurately and restrict their scoring, while our batsmen must either replicate the last performance or even better it. We need the young players (batsmen) to follow the path of Gayle, Sarwan and Chanderpaul.

Should Simmons and Hinds find favour in the final eleven, they will need to duplicate their regional feats even against higher quality opposition.

Fear is definitely out of the window for us, after our convincing win in the opening test, the only distraction that could possibly impede further progress is complacency.

Recently, England’s most influential player all-rounder Andrew Flintoff issued a ‘rallying cry’ to his team-mates, asking them to support each other, that shows that we are already a step ahead of them and we should ensure that it remains that way.

They are fragmented at the moment and just as they did to us previously when we started many tours in a disjointed state, we must strive to take full advantage and head to Kensington Oval in Barbados, up 2-0.

Meanwhile, the West Indies squad will be chosen from Chris Gayle (capt), Devon Smith, Ramnaresh Sarwan, Lendl Simmons, Shivnarine Chanderpaul, Brendan Nash, Ryan Hinds, Denesh Ramdin (wk), Jerome Taylor, Sulieman Benn, Daren Powell, Fidel Edwards, Lionel Baker.