Windies not the same since Lara

Sun, Oct 11, '15

by TONY COZIER

"As it is, the contemporary West Indies have fallen so far from their once proud position at the head of Test cricket’s table that Sri Lanka Cricket’s interim committee fears it will take a loss on the schedule."

ON their four previous tours of Sri Lanka, the West Indies have been blighted by one setback or another. The fifth is following the pattern.

The latest team arrived in Colombo last weekend, underprepared after four months confined to Caribbean Premier League (CPL) T20s but without any first-class or 50-overs cricket since the two Tests against Australia in June.

Two days before leaving for Colombo, the young, largely inexperienced squad, under 23-year-old Jason Holder as the new captain, was sidetracked by the suspension of head coach Phil Simmons by the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) and his withdrawal from the tour for his public allegations of “outside interference” in the selection of the ODI team.On arrival they were confronted by the seasonal monsoon rains that kept them indoors for much of their early practice and training. It was not unusual for October; the average rainfall for the month is 369 millimetres, just short of May, the wettest at 382 millimetres.