The buck stops with King

Bennett King cannot afford two further results like the first Test, says Cozier © Getty Images

He has had no control over the sponsorship dispute between the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) and the West Indies Players Association (WIPA) that coincided with his appointment. He is not to blame for the open split it caused in the team or the consequent use of 32 different players in the year he has been in charge. He cannot take catches, bowl properly or prevent his tailend trying to swipe Test cricket's leading wicket-taker into the stands or shamelessly backing away from pace bowling. He is powerless to prevent supposedly elite umpires making elementary errors to despatch his two premier batsmen. But after the crushing loss to Australia in the first Test in his home town of Brisbane and on the famous Gabba where he coached Queensland to three inter-state championships early in the decade, Bennett King, the West Indies coach, confronts the most pressing challenge in his new post.

More than any of his seven predecessors, King, the Australian who is the West Indies' first foreign coach, has been given all but absolute authority to produce results and end the tailspin that has carried the team to the lower reaches of international cricket. Two Tests in the current series remain over the next three weeks, in Hobart and Adelaide, and similar results to Brisbane will pose significant questions for King. Even before he eventually signed his three-year contract, Teddy Griffith, then WICB president, publicly stated that the buck would stop with the new coach, whoever he happened to be.

Under a new team structure, Griffith revealed, the head coach would not only be a member of the selection panel but would also have the casting vote. He would also be "the principal authority", in consultation with the captain, in the choice of the final XI. His control, said Griffith, extended even further. While the captain would lead the team on the field, the coach would carry out the strategy and tactics as determined in collaboration with the captain. "It follows, therefore, that he will be accountable for the performance of the team and will be judged accordingly in relation to his contract."

No such powers extended to the West Indians who preceded King, from Rohan Kanhai to Gus Logie via Andy Roberts, Clive Lloyd (briefly), Malcolm Marshall, Viv Richards and Roger Harper. In the convoluted circumstances that he has had to deal with, it has been impossible to appropriately assess how effective King and his all-Australian support staff of David Moore, the assistant coach, Stephen Partridge, the physiotherapist, and Bruce Cavanaugh, the fitness coordinator have been. They have certainly pressed the players - whoever they have been - with training and practice. Almost to a man, the players have praised King's methods and his man-management. The first-hand evidence is irrefutable. Yet the results under him have been confusing.

After Chris Gayle, Ramnaresh Sarwan, Dwayne Bravo and others with personal contracts with Cable and Wireless were disqualified from the first home Test against South Africa last April and Brian Lara withdrew from the team and captaincy in solidarity, the West Indies so dominated the match they could enforce the follow-on and might have won but for a couple of missed catches. Back to full strength on the return of the Cable and Wireless group, they were immediately beaten by South Africa in the next two Tests and in all eight one-day internationals, against South Africa and Pakistan, an unprecedented whitewash in a home series.

Stripped over the same ridiculous row about tour contracts of ten of the originally-chosen 13 for the series in Sri Lanka in July and August, King had to devise urgent contingency plans for the team of ill-prepared, novice replacements. They played above themselves, in spite of predictable defeats in the two Tests, and ended the losing ODI streak with victory over Sri Lanka in the triangular Indian Oil Cup.

Although the best players were again available, and picked, for the current tour of Australia, there was justifiable concern over whether unity could be maintained. Lara's refusal to carry the West Indies flag at the ICC awards function during the Super Series in Melbourne or represent the West Indies at the parallel annual Test captains' conference in Shivnarine Chanderpaul's absence was an early warning sign that all was still not well. The energetic and enthusiastic build-up to the Brisbane Test, on and off the field, eased such worries. The players seemed committed and keen and a dominant performance that was within one wicket of earning victory over a strong Queensland was confirmation.

Such optimism was shattered within a day and a half of the Test. The assault by Shane Warne, Brett Lee and Nathan Bracken on the second morning weakened resolve and umpire Ian Howell's harsh lbw verdict against Lara smashed it. The subsequent capitulation was swift, complete and utterly humiliating.

If for nothing else, King was culpable in the decision to exclude Jermaine Lawson, Corey Collymore and Fidel Edwards from the lead-up match against Queensland - it was better, he said, to "monitor their workload in the nets" - and include them in the Test. It took no more than an over to realise that Lawson, who had not bowled in a match since Sri Lanka in August while he had a minor operation on his ankle, was under prepared. Even before the toss was spun, it was obvious that the selection of four fast bowlers meant a potential hat-trick once seven wickets were down.

King's task over the week prior to the second Test is to lift morale by uniting the team and convincing them that the Gabba was an aberration. He might remind them of England's recovery after their heavy loss by 239 runs in the first Test in the recent Ashes series and the Lara-led phenomenon of 1999 in the Caribbean that transformed an all-out for 51 in the first Test and defeat by 312 runs into victories in the next two.

The West Indies, and King, cannot afford two further results like the first.