Where Will 20 Wickets Come From?

For the West Indies to have any chance of being competitive in England, the bowling has to show up.

Right now, based on everything we've seen and heard it looks like it will be a long, hard, uphill battle, notwithstanding the heavy defeat inflicted by the West Indies on England in the recently concluded NatWest trophy.

For Fidel Edwards at least, it might be a hill too soon. According to a press release coming out of the WICB, ?Edwards, who had to withdraw from the touring party for the One-Day series due to injury, has been carrying out a gym programme as outlined by team physiotherapist Andrew Simpson and trainer Ronald Rogers under the supervision of Jacqui King. He has also been attending physical therapy and has responded very well to treatment. He however has been unable to play any competitive cricket as Division 1 Games in which he was scheduled to play were rained out over the last two weekends.? So essentially, this means that no one, except Fidel Edwards, knows how fit he is and if he is ready for the rigors of international cricket.

Edwards, who has not been at his best since the Zimbabwe tour late last year, has struggled to remain fit, missing chunks of the English tour and finally limping off during the first day of the final test versus Bangladesh. Since then he has only done gym work, and the recently concluded win against the MCC is his first meaningful game since the second test versus Bangladesh. It is not surprising then that he returned match figures of 22-2-115-0.

The question is, why did the WI powers that be think that Edwards would be ready for this tour? Test cricket these days is a rigorous undertaking, and with the condensed nature of the tours there is no time available for injured players to round themselves back into match readiness. Therefore, in all likelihood, Edwards will be taking up a spot that could have gone to a more deserving, match ready player who could actually help the West Indies cause.

As it is, there is already a question mark hanging over the head of Jermaine Lawson as far as his recently remodeled action is concerned, and he will surely be in for some tough times from the English press. In addition he is not back to his best and was actually dropped from the West Indies team following the first test versus Bangladesh. If Lawson is not at his best, or his action does not cooperate, that would leave West Indies to rely on Pedro Collins and Tino Best, backed up by the untried Dwayne Bravo and the spinner Omari Banks, not exactly the kind of attack that inspires confidence.

Brian Lara must by now be driven to distraction wondering where his 20 wickets will be coming from, which could explain his curious statement regarding the relative strength of the MCC team that they played in the first warm up.

It is instructive to note that Australia, missing the services of Glenn McGrath who was sidelined through injury, expected him back in October of last year but did not see him on the field until the recently completed two match tilt against Sri Lanka. In the meantime, McGrath was playing club and grade cricket until the Australian selectors were satisfied that he was fully match fit and able to contribute to the test team. There is a reason why they are number one and we are languishing at number eight in the test rankings.

What?s worse is that Edwards could very well know that he is not match fit and might even be hiding an injury, but in the interests of picking up a tour fee, he is acting outside of the best interests of himself and the team. If this scenario obtains, here is a strong case for the WICB and WIPA to come together and institute the central contract system. Not only would players not be endangering their careers by playing when not fully fit, but the West Indian fans would be assured that the team representing them on the field is the fittest and best prepared team.