W.I Fitness Delinquents

The majority of the West Indies 16-man squad to Zimbabwe -- including the most senior players -- failed the minimum pre-tour fitness requirements, according to well-placed sources.

During the one-week camp in Antigua that preceded the Zimbabwe leg of the tour, the squad was put through the standard 'Bleep' and '300 yard shuttle' runs to determine the players' endurance and maximum oxygen intake but only a handful of players passed the minimum requirements.

West Indies team manager Ricky Skerritt confirmed that not all players arrived in camp meeting the "minimum standards" but he insisted the team, on average, arrived in Antigua fitter than for previous tours going back two-and-a-half years.

Skerritt told CaribbeanCricket.com the team began the process of fitness testing at the start, midway, and at the end of tours almost three years ago. The testing included the 'Bleep' test and the '300 yard shuttle run', which are used by athletes to monitor anaerobic power (lactate system) and to estimate VO2 Max (maximum oxygen uptake).

Skerritt explained that trainer Ronald Rogers adopted certain minimum standards that should be achieved at the start of a tour and especially at the start of a season. "We feel that these standards must become mandatory in the not too distant future. However, while not all players arrived at the start of this season at these minimum standards, as an average, the team arrived in Antigua at a higher level of fitness than it did prior to the World Cup and so on going backwards," Skerritt insisted.

"Our data shows this clearly. In short, the squad is fitter today than it has ever been at the start of a tour, but it clearly is still not at the desired level of all-round fitness conditioning when compared with some of the top teams," Skerritt added.

"Unfortunately, our players mostly do very little conditioning in the off season when they are not being supervised," he added.

The team manager blamed the fitness delinquency on the absence of a fitness culture among Caribbean cricketers and the "amateur domestic cricket" season.

"The cause is simple. We do not yet have a fitness culture in our mostly amateur domestic cricket and too few of our West Indies cricketers behave professionally where fitness is concerned by doing adequate strength training and other conditioning programs when away from a tour," Skerritt lamented.

What's worse is that the players had just participated in the Red Stripe Bowl, the region's premier one-day competition. In fact, players from Guyana, Barbados, Trinidad and Jamaica were involved in the semis/finals of the competition, which preceded the Antigua camp by a few days.

According to Skerritt, most professional teams start their season at a minimum required fitness level and then do simple maintenance work over the course of the season, at the end of which fitness levels would usually have fallen somewhat. "During the off season these players then rebuild up their fitness to at least the minimum required standard, often improving on it," he explained.

"The opposite happens with some members of our squad. Our players actually improve their fitness over the course of a tour, especially if the tour is at the start of a season like in this case. Our data also shows this clearly."

Another problem has been the high rate of player turnover in recent years. Skerritt said Rogers' efforts to build a fitness culture within the squad has been hurt by the fact that the team has had 57 players on the last three years. "That has compounded the problem," he added.

Interestingly, the retainer contract being negotiated between the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) and the players' association includes a clause that calls for all players to be in "first class physical condition" for all tours and matches.

Clause 5.1 reads: "The Player agrees to take part in all Tours and to play in all matches for which he may be selected by the Selectors during the Term and further agrees to perform his services hereunder diligently and faithfully and to keep himself fit and in first class physical condition to enable him to play to the best of his ability in all matches for which he is selected."