Adams Right Tonic For WI
The pleasing transformation of the West Indies team continues
Tony Cozier
16-Apr-2000
The pleasing transformation of the West Indies team continues.
It was first evident a month ago, even if just barely, in the first
Test against Zimbabwe at the Queen's Park Oval when the withdrawal of
Brian Lara and the hubbub over the coaching job were still negative
psychological factors. It has become clearer and clearer with every
passing day since then.
If the narrow victory in the first Test was nothing less than a
miracle, those that have followed, in the second Test and the first
three One-Day Internationals, have been emphatic. They have reflected
the growing self-confidence of a team that, from the start, has played
with a unity of purpose so glaringly missing in recent times.
Credit for the turnaround must go to the new management team, above
all to the new captain Jimmy Adams.
Mention of him as a possible successor to Lara, long before Lara
decided to abdicate, prompted the inevitable rejoinder. Can he keep
his place in the team'
It was not an unreasonable question. Adams' returns had diminished so
markedly that he was averaging a mere 20 an innings over the 15 Tests
prior to this season. Yet it ignored the leadership qualities that
have been so conspicuous in the past couple of months, first in the
Busta Cup, now in the international series.
He was thrust into a position fraught with the several pitfalls that
confront every Caribbean leader, even more so the captain of the West
Indies cricket team. The experiences of his three predecessors, Lara,
Courtney Walsh and Richie Richardson, were proof enough of the
difficulties that lay ahead.
Adams has met them head on. He and his support staff have told their
charges that all they ask of them is to give of their best, whatever
that might be.
Up to the challenge
In this regard, Adams has led from the front. He hasn't done so with
the same devastating brilliance of Lara for his own limitations
preclude the brilliance we saw from the left-handed genius against
Australia last year. But his more understated contributions have been
just as critical.
His painstaking, unbeaten hundred in the second Test against Zimbabwe
was the foundation of eventual victory and his consistency at No.4 in
the three One-Day Internationals have held the innings together when
it might well have fallen apart, as it did so regularly in New
Zealand, Sharjah and other scattered venues across the world.
Adams and coaches Roger Harper and Jeffrey Dujon have acknowledged the
presence of several new, young players and others still striving to
establish themselves and have worked on technical weaknesses with
patience and understanding.
They have paid particular attention to the basics and the effect has
been obvious. The running between the wickets has been refreshingly
urgent, the bowling so disciplined that it has conceded only two
totals in seven over 200 and the fielding sharp.
Above all else, the team looks keen, happy and united.
An accurate clue to the general mood has always been Curtly Ambrose's
demeanour. Throughout this season, no one has been more enthusiastic
and there certainly hasn't been anything more expressive of the
renewed spirit than his smile, as wide as Antigua itself, that has
followed his many successes.
The widespread euphoria surrounding Courtney Walsh's record and the
lively crowd support at Sabina Park and Arnos Vale have been other
contributory factors to the renaissance that has, for the time being
at least, silenced the tumult over Lara and the coaching job.
The real tests still lie ahead. Pakistan will get better the more they
become acclimatised and stronger in the Tests when they expect to be
joined by Shoaib Akhtar, Saeed Anwar and Saqlain Mushtaq, all
presently overcoming injury.
But they will be up against opponents who won't give up at the first
signs of trouble and whose batting, hopefully, will be boosted by the
return of Shivnarine Chanderpaul and, dare we even think it, of Lara.