The Independent Voice of West Indies Cricket
West Indies captain Carl Hooper said his team only had themselves to blame for their almost certain early World Cup exit.
While the former world champions still have a slight chance of making the Super Sixes if they win their final game against Kenya and other results go their way, Hooper said their six-run loss to Sri Lanka yesterday was effectively the end of the road.
Phew. In the end Sri Lanka beat West Indies by six runs, but it was a match which had more twists than an Giant Slalom course.
The outcome was in balance until the penultimate ball - that West Indies got as close as they did was thanks to a brave and belligerent innings of 47 not out from Ramnaresh Sarwan, who returned from hospital to take West Indies within one strike of victory. As it is, the result means that they almost certainly will miss out on a Super Six place.
You could easily forgive West Indies captain Carl Hooper for cursing his rotten luck after his team's World Cup match against Bangladesh was washed out.
It cost the former world champions two crucial points and left them needing to win their remaining Group B games against Sri Lanka and Kenya to stay in the tournament. But Hooper sees it differently, insisting the team will be better off in the long run by playing such a big match.
All's not well in the West Indies World Cup camp following a bizarre confrontation between star batsman Brian Lara and coach Roger Harper that disrupted the team's net session last Thursday.
Harper, who will depart as team coach when his contract expires on March 23, was at the receiving end of a profanity-laced verbal barrage from Lara because he was unhappy with the bowlers that were provided for his practice session.
Despite whispers out of the WICB headquarters in Antigua that outgoing coach Roger Harper was asked to stay on through the home series against Australia and Sri Lanka, CaribbeanCricket.com has learnt that an offer to that effect was never made to Harper.
The only contact made between Harper and the WICB on the issue came just as the deadline for applications was about to expire and sources say and it had nothing to do with any offer of an extension.