No Straight-Jacket! - Batsmen individuality respected, says Adams

Port-Of-Spain - Neither Philo Wallace nor any other West Indies batsman was given specific instructions on how to approach his batting in the just-concluded triangular limited-overs series.

The disclosure was made by captain Jimmy Adams on Sunday after the West Indies lost the third and decisive final against Pakistan at the Queen's Park Oval.

He was responding to a question on whether Wallace was ordered to curb his naturally aggressive instincts, especially in the first final at Kensington Oval in which he required 24 balls for his first run.

'Our team plan is to have wickets in hand going into the last ten overs,' Adams said.

'We don't tell people how to approach that in terms of their own style. We respect everybody's individuality in asking for that, but the team goal must be respected.

'With the exception of today [Sunday] and Barbados, that was done. It's just that when it wasn't done, it was in two crucial games in the series.'

Wallace, the big Barbadian opener who was playing for the West Indies for the first time in more than a year, had a modest series.

His 47 at Kensington was the highest of his seven innings that brought him an aggregate of 147 runs (ave. 21.00). His strike rate was 46.80, which translates to less than a run every two balls.

Wallace's 30 off 64 balls was the West Indies' topscore on Sunday, but West Indies collapsed after an opening stand of 61 in 17.1 overs and were all out for 114, the lowest total in 33 One-Day Internationals at the Queen's Park Oval.

Coach Roger Harper was direct in explaining the disappointing performance.

'The basic mistake we made was that we did not stick to a lot of the principles that worked for us before. We did not apply them and that's where we fell down,' he said.

Pakistan went on to win the match by four wickets with 29 balls to spare to take the three-match final series 2-1.

'I was very pleased with the effort when we were in the field,' Harper said.

'As far as the batting was concerned, we were a little disappointed with the production. The total we got in the end definitely wasn't enough. Even tough we stuck to the task manfully and showed a lot of character in the field, it just was not enough and there was nothing we could have done about it.'

The West Indies coach, however, said there was some good in the entire experience ahead of the three-match Test series against Pakistan starting on May 5.

Pakistan captain Moin Khan was pleased with his team's performance, noting that it was a team effort, but he was especially high in praise for Man-of-The-Series Inzamam-ul-Haq.

'I must appreciate Inzaman's batting. The way he played throughout the tournament was great,' Moin said of his vice-captain who finished the series with 295 runs (ave. 59.00)