Hoad on Board

The special motivator the shell-shocked West Indies have been repeatedly calling for is finally coming.

Joe Hoad, a Barbadian-born qualified sports psychologist and coach now attached to the South Australia Cricket Association, joins Jimmy Adams' men on Saturday (tomorrow night Caribbean time) and will remain with them for just under two weeks in the first instance.

But the former multi-talented sportsman is not predicting an instant turnaround after humiliating defeats to the hosts in the first two Tests.

"Sports psychology can help, but whether it can help in time I do not know," Hoad told nationsport last night on a telephone link-up from his Adelaide home.

"It can't harm. It can only help, but how much it will help, that's in the luck of the gods.

"I can't walk on water or turn water into wine. I'm just a normal human being."

The recently voted Australia Coach Of The Year is accepting that his job will not be a simple one against the background that he steps in at a time when it is believed that the team is mentally devastated.

"If something had been in place-if Rudi Webster or somebody who knows about helping people manage their minds, had worked with some of the guys, then the job would have been a bit easier," he said.

"I don't even know if the players will accept me. We're talking about adults here and I can't force myself on anybody."

Hoad, a former Barbados table tennis champion, was contacted by West Indies manager Ricky Skerritt earlier this week and he travels to Hobart on Saturday morning to join the team for the four-day match against Australia "A" starting the same day.

He will come back to Adelaide with the team for the third Test starting December 15, but is unsure whether the arrangement will continue after that in light of his contract with the South Australia Cricket Association.

"If the West Indies Cricket Board feels I could make a contribution, I have the opportunity of terminating the contract, but when you terminate a contract in Australia, you don't get work again," Hoad said.

"I have a reputation here. I have stayed between thick and thin with all the clubs that I have ever coached."

As a resident in Australia for many years, Hoad has coached several teams, but was only recently contracted to the South Australian state side after guiding South Districts to their first Premiership title last season.

"My success comes from letting the players be natural, letting them do their thing," he said.

"The teams I have coached have not become champion teams because of me, but because the cricketers had the willingness to do the job.

"When you pick somebody to play at this level, he's got to have the ability to play at this level."

In spite of Australia's recent impregnable record, Hoad does not feel they are unbeatable.

"It is not impossible for the West Indies to come back. Australia are a good team, but they are not that good," he said.

"I am a West Indian and I know the hearts of every West Indian would like to see the fellas get up and play to their true potential."