The Test for Bennett King

West Indies went out to Pakistan in the crucial match of the VB series, losing by 30 runs and with that, the right to contest the finals against Australia. Seems to me we?ve heard that story before.

So, one wonders, what has happened to the ICC Champions Trophy winning team? What difference has the new coach and his entourage made? Has the West Indies shown any signs of improvement since such a high powered supremo was installed?

Nobody expected the new coach to make an immediate, dramatic improvement in the team as, at this level, improvement would be gradual at best but, one would have hoped that certain gains would have been maintained.

Let us look at the performance of the team overall.

West Indies won a single match in the six played and to be fair, had one apparently sewn up when the rain robbed the team of victory over Australia.

The quality that was constant was the inconsistency of most of the batsmen with the notable exception of Chanderpaul, whose six innings, five of which were over 40 runs, totalled 314 runs. He was followed by Lara whose 307 runs included an innings, a match winning innings of 156 and only one other over 50 runs. Sarwan had two innings of 76 and 87 and nothing else worthwhile. Gayle had one innings of 82 and in the five others, totalled 37 runs. Hinds scored 107 in one and in the other five got 93 runs. No team could hope to be successful with such inconsistency in its frontline batsmen.

In the rain-ruined match against Australia there were one wide and one noball in 11 overs bowled but in the other five matches, there were 55 wides and 25 no balls, 13 1/2 extra overs.

For all his experience, Merv Dillon should have done better and his 27 overs for 167 runs at 6.07 runs per over is not acceptable.

Collins and Bradshaw were both comparable with any others on the winning teams. Collins 38 overs cost 160 runs and he took eight wickets at 20 runs each. His economy rate was 4.21 rpo.

Bradshaw was as admirable. His 50 overs cost 237 runs at 4.74 rpo and he took nine wickets at 26.33 each.

Many of the fans are asking what happened to the team which played so splendidly in the ICC Champions Trophy and which rose to challenges, none more spectacularly than in the final, when they came back from the edge of defeat to win a memorable victory.

The discipline which saw a record low number of wides and no balls from a West Indies team in ODIs of late, seems to have deserted them.

One respected former Test player noted that the team ?at times played well but often did not come up to scratch.? That sums up the performance accurately but then, what is new. That is exactly the situation into which Logie went without assistant or physiotherapist or computer analyst and without the authority that the new coach has.

It may be too soon to judge the effect of the new coach on the performance or the attitude of the team but what appears to be undeniable is that a whole lot of work still needs to be done, more on the mentality and the determination of the team than on the technique of the players.

Men who have reached this stage of their careers would have developed reflexes that would be extremely difficult, if not impossible to counter. What would be difficult but, not nearly as daunting, is to indoctrinate the men with the do or die attitude of former West Indies teams and what should be the attitude of all competitive athletes.

It must be painful to all the West Indies players that two Australian tailenders, Brett Lee and Jason Gillespie put on 73 runs for the ninth wicket in better than run a ball when West Indies seemed to have the Aussies on the rack. Why then do West Indies innings collapse at the fall of the third wicket? On occasions too numerous to mention the last six batsmen hardly total more than 40 runs. Do the bowlers practise batting at all?

The honeymoon is over and it is now testing time for Bennett King and his team to produce the effect, even the results that West Indies cricket, its fans and the many admirers worldwide, need.

The supremo must produce a marked improvement in the performance of the team, that would hopefully mean more wins but, certainly must result in tough, determined performances against allcomers. We would like to win but, if the West Indies team plays well and the opposition plays better, we would accept that with grace.

The time is long past when we would accept shoddy, spineless performance without demur. New coach or not, some heads would have to roll. If the current lot can not do the job, let us give the next line a chance to begin the resurrection of West Indies cricket fortunes.

* This article appears by special arrangement with the Trinidad Guardian.