Desperate times

West Indies cricket teams have been faced with desperate situations in the past few years and today is no exception.

Down 1-3 in the seven-match Cable & Wireless One-Day International series against South Africa, they go to Kensington Oval this morning in a must-win situation to keep alive their hopes of winning the trophy.

We need to get desperate from this game, but it shouldn't have come to this stage, captain Carl Hooper said yesterday after a morning practice session that attracted a large crowd at Queen's Park.

We should have been desperate a long time ago to pull even with these guys.

Hooper and the West Indies are still upbeat about their chances.

But against the background of three successive, comprehensive defeats, there are others who have a dim view.

A general worker at Kensington said yesterday it might be easier for Lord Nelson or Bussa to wuk-up than for the West Indies to win a match.

He might be among a small group, but the truth is that in the last three encounters, the West Indies were hardly competitive.

And Hooper knows it too.

A couple of games ago I was trying to emphasise that I was a bit concerned about the bowling, he said.

The batting is now a problem as well.

We've played four One-Day games so far and our highest score is 220. That is a bit worrying given the fact that sometimes we have played as many as eight batters.

We must bat and bat properly. Regardless of if we bat first or last, we must be able to give the bowlers a score that they can work with.

Hooper himself is peeved he has not been able to convert his promising starts into significant contributions. In every match, he looked the class batsman we know he is, but returns of 43, 48, 29 and 46 have understandably frustrated his followers.

Obviously I am disappointed with the 40s. I'm not making any excuses, he said.

The times when I have got out, they have been 10, 12, 15 overs left. I could have gone on to get, if not a hundred, 70s, 80s, 90s.

After two defeats by eight wickets and another by 132 runs, the biggest margin of victory for the South Africans in 22 One-Day Internationals against the West Indies, Mike Findlay and fellow selectors have made adjustments to the 14-man squad that was utilised for the first four matches.

There is a recall for opening batsman Daren Ganga, whose record in the shorter form of the game hardly suggests encouragement.

The 21-year-old Trinidadian, who takes Ricardo Powell's place at the top of the innings, averages seven in as many matches. His technique and temperament, however, are as good as anyone else's in the Caribbean.

Ganga had two difficult tours South Africa and Australia and he has been given the opportunity here in the Caribbean in conditions that he is familiar with, Hooper said.

The second and final change in the squad is perhaps the most interesting.

The inclusion of leg-spinner Dinanath Ramnarine ahead of left-armer Neil McGarrell, could prove decisive in the middle of the innings.

There is a possibility that Ramnarine may try to bowl outside the legstump as he did so effectively in the Antigua Test, but it could be a bit of a risk in the One-Day game.

Ramnarine has got a part to play. We've been struggling to take wickets in the middle overs, Hooper said. He's been brought into the squad so he can play that role and pose a bit more variation and punch to the attack.

In the first four matches, South Africa were able to launch their innings with calculated aggression which has caused the West Indies major problems in containing them in the first 15 overs.

In successive matches, by the time the field restrictions were eased, South Africa had raced to 67, 70, 88 and 74, and in each match the West Indies took just one wicket in that period.

Herschelle Gibbs, in particular, was very successful in charging the fast bowlers, but Hooper said there wasn't a likelihood a spinner would be given the new ball to counter the problem.

A spinner has been introduced before the 15 overs and hasn't proved that effective, the West Indies captain said.

Opening with a spinner with the new ball is a big ask. Even though I have been successful in bowling in the middle stages of the game, I don't think it is something that we want to do.