Injuries a pain

Clive Lloyd has called on the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) to appoint a full-time, qualified physiotherapist and to better prepare players, even for short tournaments such as those just completed here and in Singapore.

The team manager said the West Indies suffered because the established players were short of match practice and form and because the extent of several injuries was not properly diagnosed.

He observed that the Toronto tournament, with three matches each against India and Pakistan, was only finalised while the team was on its way to Singapore.

They probably thought this was just two tournaments but other people were taking it seriously, he said.

I am not saying they didnt take it seriously, but here we found different conditions (to Singapore) and we did not adjust well enough.

In future we have to have more of our players in form, Lloyd advised. They must be playing some sort of cricket.

If were going on these short tours that are now coming thick and fast, we know how they are structured so we should have preparation camps where you get the players in form.

Young batsmen

He noted that most of those who had made runs on this double-tour were the young batsmen while the senior players did not perform as well as they should.

Captain Brian Lara, Shivnarine Chanderpaul and Ridley Jacobs, three of the leading batsmen, played either very little competitive cricket or none at all in the three months between the end of the West Indies campaign in the World Cup and the Coca-Cola Challenge in Singapore.

All averaged under 25 in the matches against Zimbabwe, India and Pakistan.

While the West Indies won the Coca Cola Challenge with a 100 per cent record in Singapore, they were beaten 2-1 by India in the DMC Cup and 3-0 by Pakistan in the DMC Trophy here.

We depend on our senior players, especially since we have just lost one of the finest players in One-Day cricket (Carl Hooper), and we should now have the senior ones to carry on so that the youngsters can follow, he said.

Here the youngsters have led the way which is good only in the sense that we know we have some talent around, he added.

Ricardo Powell, the explosive 20-year-old Jamaican, scored the only hundred on tour, 124 off 93 balls with eight sixes and nine fours, in Singapore final against India. He also had two half-centuries.

His fellow Jamaican, left-hander Wavell Hinds, averaged 36 in his three matches in Toronto.

Most consistent

Both played competitive club cricket in England and Jamaica following the World Cup. The most consistent batsmen, opener Sherwin Campbell and Jimmy Adams, were also involved in regular club cricket in Barbados and Jamaica.

Lloyd said a lay-off could even have affected Laras captaincy.

As captain, you tend to learn as you go along, he said. The more games you play, the more experience you get.

The West Indies were seriously handicapped by injuries for the matches against India and Pakistan here. The most serious was to off-spinner Nehemiah Perry who was unable to play at all after tearing a thigh muscle during his unbeaten 38 in his match-winning partnership with Powell in the Singapore final.

Fast bowlers Corey Collymore and Reon King were also eliminated from the series against Pakistan, Collymore with a sore back, King with a side strain.

Most of the injuries should not have been as prolonged as they were, Lloyd said. I would like to see a qualified physiotherapist to look after our injuries and to know how long they will take to heal so that we can pick teams accordingly.

Jacqui King, a qualified physioterapist who has been attached to several Barbados sporting teams in addition to cricket, was appointed for the World Cup but not engaged again.

Lloyd said he had a lot of faith in Perry whom he described as a very intelligent cricketer who would have made a difference to the performances on the turning pitches in Toronto.