West Indies focus on fielding effort

The West Indian players currently attending a training camp in Barbados have been given a cautious endorsement about their fitness from David Moore, the assistant coach. While he said there were signs of improvement Moore also indicated there was still some way to go to reach the levels required.

Moore told the The Nation Newspaper:"One thing that we are noticing is the increase in fitness and fielding skills which is encouraging for us. The personal improvement over the fitness has been good. Obviously, they are still behind what we will perceive to be a good benchmark, but their fielding and enthusiasm is still improving all the time which is very important."

While at the training camp the players are being put through rigorous fielding and catching drills in an attempt to get them up to international standards. In recent years the fielding of the team has often reached embarrassing levels with drop catches being extremely costly. With a tour of Australia starting next month it is vital that West Indies can at least compete when it comes to their catching and fielding.

"To compete on the world stage, you have got to be fit and be outstanding fielders and you have got to be able to take every available opportunity that you can get," explained Moore. "So having an emphasis on fielding is very important because it wins you games and the fitness allows you to compete for five days."