Camp gets credit

Roger Harper yesterday chided observers who described the West Indies' pre-tour camp as an army-type exercise which was not suited for cricketers.

The West Indies coach, to the contrary, believed the two-week camp in Trinidad served its purpose in preparing the team for tours of Zimbabwe and Kenya.

A lot of things have been said about the camp and wrongly so. A lot of people from the Press have made some ill-advised and unresearched statements, he said on his return to the Caribbean yesterday after a successful tour.

The West Indies coach lauded the effort of team sports therapist Ronald Rogers and two physical training instructors from the Trinidad and Tobago Defence Force for their input at the camp.

But he was critical of those who made negative comments about the exercise.

I read things in the Press about an army-style camp. I have never been to an army camp and I don't know what it's like, Harper said.

I doubt whether the people who made those comments saw any details of the programme of the camp.

He added that Rogers' assistants had previously worked with other international sports teams.

Certainly they are not army drill sergeants. The programmes they ran, as designed by Ronald, were specifically geared to getting our team in the best physical shape and mental condition as well, Harper said.

Judging from the results, obviously they have to be given some sort of credit.

Harper was speaking to reporters during a welcome reception for the team, hosted by British Airways in the Club Caribbean Lounge at the Grantley Adams International Airport.

The reception was held following the success by the West Indies team which returned from an overseas tour with positive results for the first time in six years.

Carl Hooper's men won the Coca-Cola Cup in a three-way limited-overs series that also involved Zimbabwe and India, and followed up with a 1-0 series victory in a two-Test series against Zimbabwe.

On leaving Zimbabwe, the West Indies moved over to Kenya where they easily defeated the hosts in three One-Day Internationals.

By no means have we arrived, Harper said, with the knowledge that Zimbabwe and Kenya are two of the weaker teams in international cricket.

This is a process of development, a process of growing and we've shown that we are learning.

He said the success in Zimbabwe was significant because India had only recently stopped the winning streak of mighty Australia but were unable to defeat Zimbabwe in the preceding Test series.

Winning in Zimbabwe was no mean feat. Defeating India in the (Coca- Cola) final was a significant achievement.

We managed to overcome the adversity of losing a number of key players to injury.

The team stuck together well, fought very well and there was the determination and the will to win that process started way back in the camp.

The tour started with major injury worries for the West Indies which resulted in champion batsman Brian Lara, leg-spinner Dinanath Ramnarine, and fast bowlers Cameron Cuffy, Mervyn Dillon and Kerry Jeremy having to return home early.

If you look at the schedule of international cricket being played around the world, you will get injuries due to wear and tear, Harper said.

What we have to try and do is to put together a process in the Caribbean of preparing our youngsters from early, making them fitter and stronger so that when they get to international level they are better prepared to take on the rigours of the sort of schedules we have at the moment.

The reception was attended by Barbados Cricket Association officials, including first vice-president David Holford, second vice-president Owen Estwick, board members Conde Riley and Bobby Goodman, consultant Selwyn Smith, as well as British Airways' area commercial manager Elvin Sealy.

The West Indies' party included Harper, Barbadians Courtney Browne, Corey Collymore and Pedro Collins, Guyanese Shivnarine Chanderpaul, Reon King, Ramnaresh Sarwan and Neil McGarrell and Trinidadian Dave Mohammed.