Fitness big with Garner

One West Indies selector has come out strongly in favour of the new fitness policy being implemented by the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB).

Joel Garner, the former Windies bowling great, said players must become more professional and it was about time they took their personal fitness seriously. He was responding to questions surrounding the recent tour of Zimbabwe, where at least five players returned home with various injuries.

Players must take their game seriously and see themselves as professionals. The difference between a cricketer and a professional cricketer is often his level of fitness. There is no place in international cricket for guys who aren't up to scratch, said Garner, as he watched the National Sports Council Under-13 team playing at the Ealing Cricket Club in north London.

`Ongoing programme'

We must look at an ongoing fitness programme, not just one when we are going on tour. We have to get to the level of the other teams in world cricket. We must have continuous assessment, but players must take responsibility for themselves, said Garner, who took 259 wickets in 58 Tests in the 1970s and 80s. He added, from personal experience, that when the chips were down the fittest would survive.

He also called for more intensity from the players in their training routines, noting that to succeed at international level one could not just play around in the nets.

The recent elevation of Wes Hall to the presidency of the WICB is one development that has won Garner's vote. He said the West Indies team required people around who understood the game and who could help the players develop.

We need to focus on cricket expertise at the present stage, and we need to have people with cricket knowledge around. Yes, you need person with business sense, but the business of the WICB must be cricket first, said the former Barbados captain.

The recent performances in Africa were also greeted with delight, but Garner warned against jumping the gun.

He said the tour showed what could be gained from self-confidence and proper guidance, pointing to opener Chris Gayle as a prime example.