Harper: WI need break

Roger Harper yesterday identified the problem that now confronts his West Indies team as the one that every coach dreads.

'This has been a long and tiring tour and the guys are just waiting for it to end,' he acknowledged, four days before the fifth and final Test at the Oval that will determine whether the West Indies can avoid losing a series to England for the first time in 31 years.

Harper, the former Test all-rounder who was previously 'A' team coach, is on his first tour with the Test team since his promotion in February.

'The guys played a lot of cricket coming into this tour,' he said. 'Some have been going since New Zealand (last December and January), then had that series back to back against Zimbabwe and Pakistan in the Caribbean and flew straight here.'

'Everyone's just waiting for a bit of a break, more mental than physical, really,' he added.

As it is, they can look forward to no more than three weeks off before most of them head for the second ICC so-called mini-World Cup tournament in Kenya at the end of September.

All 11 officially recognised One-Day International teams are participating on a straight knockout basis that means a loss leads to immediate elimination. The West Indies meet Sri Lanka on October 4.

As soon as they return to the Caribbean, they face the regional Red Stripe Bowl One-Day tournament and then leave for their tour of Australia in early November.

The present situation has been further affected by the defeat in the fourth Test, by an innings in two days, that gave England their 2-1 lead, the crushing loss to Somerset by 269 runs on Saturday in their last first-class match leading up to the Oval and by a few annoying injuries.

Captain Jimmy Adams has a cut on his right index finger, legacy of a blow from Dominic Cork in the fourth Test, Reon King injured his instep and Corey Collymore strained a groin muscle in the match against Somerset, and Shivnarine Chanderpaul (right forearm) and Franklyn Rose (sprained right ankle) are still not 100 per cent fit.

'We'll have to see how these things develop but hopefully they'll heal quickly over the next few days and we'll have a full, or almost full, squad to select from,' Harper said.

The coach described the downturn since victory in the first Test by an innings in three days as 'highly disappointing'.

'The guys were pretty low (after the all-out 61 and defeat in the fourth Test) and we didn't have the best four days against Somerset, but I think everyone is pretty well geared for the Oval Test match,' Harper said.

'Everyone knows how important it is and everyone is ready to throw everything into those five days.'

'We just have to see how we can squeeze every bit of enthusiasm, every bit of energy, every bit of determination out of every one at this point,' he added.

So how does he do that?

Harper said it would be mostly with the players all together although there were times 'you have to speak to a few individuals on their own'.

'You get a little more out of them and you get a better understanding of how they're thinking and they themselves understand a bit more about the way I'm thinking,' he explained.

England would come out confident of playing good cricket at the Oval, Harper accepted.

'We will just have to be ready to be competitive from ball one.'