Cozier: I Have Questions for Bennett

Mon, Dec 5, '05

West Indies head coach Bennett King was a no-show when the team returned to the Caribbean but at least one local journalist believes the super coach has a lot to answer for.

In a post-series column syndicated around the region, Tony Cozier examined the glaring weaknesses in Shivnarine Chanderpaul's captaincy and the lack of available options but Cozier's strongest words were reserved for Bennett King.

Cozier writes: "How far does the head coach's role extend in terms of selection and tactics? If as far as the board has said, then he has questions to answer at the debriefing session when he gets back this week."

Some of Cozier's questions include:

* Was he responsible, for instance, in picking Jermaine Lawson for the tour in the first place, knowing the fast bowler still hadn't overcome the effects of his ankle operation?

* Was it Bennett King's idea to choose four fast bowlers, among them the unprepared Lawson, for the first Test to the exclusion of Dwayne Bravo?

Why wasn't the second new ball taken and Corey Collymore, with four wickets under his belt, not brought back on the first day of the series with Australia 300 for seven and Shane Warne and Brett Lee together?

* Did King acquiesce to the demeaning use of the unchallenging off-spin of Chris Gayle and Marlon Samuels for 39 overs together on the third day in Brisbane, presenting easy runs to Australia simply to speed up the over rate?

* Whose scheme was it to scatter fielders far and wide as soon as Stuart MacGill joined Mike Hussey in the final Test for their 122-run ninth-wicket partnership, surrendering the only time the West Indies had Australia by the collar in the series?

In the Barbados Nation, Philip Spooner reports that Coach King was not the only no-show when the team's flight touched down at the Grantley Adams International Airport.

Skipper Shivnarine Chanderpaul and vice-captain Ramnaresh Sarwan left Australia and went directly to the United States to be with family while star batsman and former captain Brian Lara remained in Australia playing in a charity golf tournament.

Spooner writes that the absence of the team's leaders coincided with an ICC release that lists the West Indies a Number 8 in the Test standings. Below them are only minnows Bangladesh and strife-torn Zimbabwe.

Spooner also offers an interview with 20-year-old wicketkeeper Denesh Ramdin, who is temporarily putting aside his studies to become a medical doctor to focus on his cricket career.

"Yeah, I still ultimately have plans of being a doctor so I can be of service," Ramdin said. "But I will have to put that on hold as for now. Studying of being a doctor is on the backburner for the moment."

On the topic of being West Indies captain, Ramdin said he believed he was about seven or eight years away from being a realistic contender for the job but would one day like to lead the side on to the field.

"I would probably say seven or eight years from now, not right now. I just want to focus on my cricket and being the best wicket-keeper/batsman I can be...I want to be a fixture in the team and make a name for myself first before looking at bigger things. After I am established then I will think about being a captain and leader of the West Indies team."

The Barbados Nation s also reporting that Fidel Edwards and Dwayne Bravo will be missing from the Barbados and Trinidad & Tobago teams for this weekend's match in the Carib Beer-sponsored first class tournament.

Both players have niggling injuries and have been asked by West Indies physiotherapist Stephen Partridge to rest until January.

Edwards did not disclose the injury. Bravo is carrying a thigh injury and has also been asked to take a rest for three to four weeks.

All the local papers and international cricket Web sites are reporting that the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) has formally complained to the ICC about the standing of umpiring during the recent series against Australia.

The WICB has requested that when the full video assessment of every decision of the umpires in the series is completed that the outcome be shared with the WICB as soon as it is available.

The WICB said it was "disappointed that the decision making during the series appeared to be below the normally high standard expected of the Elite Panel."

Fazeer Mohammed's latest column in the Trinidad Express believes the WICB is wasting its time demanding accountability from the ICC.

Mohammed writes: "Nice to see that the West Indies Cricket Board are formally stating their dissatisfaction with the quality of umpiring in Australia. But what will they do when the International Cricket Council trot out the statistics that suggest that the officials were really on the ball and that it's just a case of small-island conspiracy theories?

"Take a nice little pat on the head, put back on the straw hat and go back to playing the steel drum barefoot in the sand to keep the tourists happy?

Mohammed concludes that the WICB will do nothing when the ICC continues to be dismissive about complaints from the 'smaller' member boards. "Mental colonialism and silly, smiling subservience is a mindset that just won't go away."

A report from CMC distributed around the Caribbean says that former West Indies head coach Roger Harper will manage the Young West Indies team to the 2006 ICC Youth World Cup in Sri Lanka.

The coach will be Roddy Estwick, the former Barbados medium-fast bowler, who also played professionally in South Africa for a decade.

Harper and Estwick will be heading a camp for the 20 players short-listed, from which the final squad of 14 will be selected. Plans are in place to have another camp in January.

The West Indies will have five limited-overs matches in Pakistan before going to Sri Lanka for the tournament. The West Indies reached the Final of the last youth World Cup in Bangladesh last year, but lost to Pakistan.