Lloyd bounces again

Clive Lloyd is not backing down from his criticism of the West Indies selectors.

Weeks after he and chairman of the selection panel Mike Findlay engaged in a public spat, Lloyd has told a British newspaper that his frustration at being unable to take part in selection was a key factor in his decision to step down as team manager.

You speak to our selectors for an hour and tell them what you think but they then go and pick their own team, he told The Times of London.

Brian Lara, the West Indies captain, is a member of the panel.

These are very traumatic times for us, Lloyd, who is quitting after three years after the One-Day series here, said. There are a lot of things wrong at the moment.

Theres been inconsistency of selection and Id like to see the qualification rules relaxed so that the likes of Vasbert Drakes can be picked.

Drakes, a fast-medium bowler from Barbados, has been barred from playing for the West Indies because he plays in South Africa during the regional domestic season.

Were not bringing on our young players at home. We need better facilities, better pitches, better coaching, Lloyd said.

One of his concerns is that West Indian players are far from the finished article when they get into the national side.

Take (Ricardo) Powell, (Wavell) Hinds and (Daren) Ganga. They all came into this series with one first-class hundred apiece, whereas (Matthew) Sinclair had four.

New Zealand's Sinclair scored 214 in his debut last week against the West Indies who lost the Test series 2-0.

The Caribbean team will hope to use the One-day International series, the first match of which was played today, to restore conviction or self-belief to their dismal recent away record.

Lara, the captain, concedes that the bottom may not yet have been reached.

We might have to go through a pretty rough period before we come out better players. We've got a phobia about playing away from home.

The evidence is that Lara's own form on foreign soil is being affected by having to carry the batting.

Not since England in 1995 has he scored a Test hundred out of the Caribbean and, in that time, West Indies have failed to win an away series