West Indies have tough series against Zimbabwe and Pakistan

As this ground breaking 2000 international cricket series featuring the West Indies, Zimbabwe and Pakistan begins; the first time ever that there will be a triangular series in the Caribbean; it might be strange, but also true, that, even with its recent upheavals in management and captaincy, the West Indies cricket team, on the field of play, could actually have the immediate advantages over the opponents for the next three months or so.

Much has occurred recently to change the immediate horizons of the West Indies cricket team, with Brian Lara not only removing himself from the captaincy, but even allowing himself a "cricketing sabbatical" to be away from cricket altogether for a spell (no surprise). Ricky Skerritt and Roger Harper are already hoping to get the successes, as manager and coach, where Clive Lloyd, Malcolm Marshall and Viv Richards have failed. The "new" West Indies cricket team, though, with relatively new names, seemingly are in a refreshed mode. The West Indies have nothing more to lose. The only way out of the last set of years of very poor results is to win, and win big against firstly the Zimbabweans and then, perhaps more difficult, but equally as important, to beat the Pakistanis too.

Zimbabwe are just coming off a relatively uneventful cricket series with England. Perhaps those two teams were suited to each other. While no-one dares to underestimate any opponent, Zimbabwe's returns from that England series were not great enough to suggest that they should beat the West Indies, even with the low state at which West Indies cricket is at present. One must remember, however, that New Zealand also were not supposed to beat the West Indies, but they actually did, and did so extremely, even embarrassingly, convincingly. It would be rather foolish to discard the Zimbabweans as "cannon fodder" for a refreshed and perhaps angry West Indian cricket team. The present state of mind of the West Indies cricket team makes it very difficult to know how they will play, under any conditions.

Most of the Zimbabwean players have proper international cricket experiences, even for such a "young" team internationally, with under 50 Tests in their history. Indeed, they shocked a few teams, England and the West Indies included, by getting to the final "Super Six" stages of the 1999 Cricket World Cup, while fancied teams managed to only play badly enough to return home after the first round. At one day cricket, Zimbabwe are as good as any team in the cricket world on their day. They are very capable of having several of those days in this short tour of the Caribbean, so please, whatever is done by the Caribbean fans, please do not underestimate the Zimbabweans.

Heath Streak, Neil Johnson, Henry Olonga, Murray Goodwin, Andy and Grant Flower, among others, are some of the Zimbabwe players to watch very carefully. These guys are experienced and tough characters too. Like their neighbors, the South Africans, they enjoy a scrap and will never give up without a great fight. Tenacity and determination are their trump cards.

Pakistan, on the other hand, will present another set of problems. Firstly, it is almost impossible to tell which "actual" Pakistani team will actually turn up. It is universal belief that at this moment in cricket history, Pakistan perhaps has the ability to produce more "real" cricketing fireworks than even the present unofficial Cricket World Champions, Australia. However, Pakistan's cricket team and the results of its efforts sometimes seem have very little to do with its cricket, per se'.

Almost always, the Pakistani effort is compromised, sometimes very positively, most times, rather negatively, by its politics and every other facet of the game. Most people will agree that if Pakistan could play to each player's ability and potential, then even a combination of the best of the rest of the world's cricketers would find it very difficult to beat them. Obviously, which team turns up, psychologically speaking, would be the biggest question.

The names of the Pakistanis roll from the tongue like a "Who is Who" of recent world cricket. Saeed Anwar, Aameer Sohail, Wasim Akram, Waqar Younis, Moin Khan, Azhar Mahmood, Saqlain Mushtaq, Inzamam ul Haq and Abdur Razzaq are but a few who have been making the headlines recently, for, indeed, the "right" cricketing reasons.

Despite the fact that the Pakistanis have struggled badly with Sri Lanka in their home tour immediately before this Caribbean trip, it must always also be remembered that Pakistan and the West Indies almost always have tremendous confrontations whenever they meet on the cricket field. This is perhaps best epitomized by the still talked about 1975 World Cup semi final, easily one of the better one day games, if not indeed the best one day game ever played.

The Pakistani production line of great international cricketers is really tremendous. Names like Imran Khan, Majid Khan, Mustaq Mohammed, Wasim Raja and Safraz Nawaz, among others, still haunt and mesmerize many a cricket team's memory, including the West Indies. Pakistan is capable of playing blinding cricket at anytime; an extremely dangerous opponent indeed.

The West Indies selectors have given twenty names which they think could begin to bring much needed victory and glory to the hearts and minds of long suffering West Indian cricket supporters. While some of these names have been around the fire before, most, thankfully, are sufficiently new to suggest that "hope" will not be a misplaced emotion as this first home series for the new millenium starts for the West Indies.

The West Indies cricket team needs "newness." The latter part of the 1990's managed to destroy any elements of understanding that the "real" West Indian supporter would have had as regards the West Indies cricket team. The incoherence and drunken blunderings of West Indies cricket in the recent past, must, at some time, give way to some positive play and attitude, even perhaps positive results. The time for that is now. 2000 must bring something positive from the West Indies cricket team to relieve the supporters of their disbelieving frozen, mindless numbness, instilled as a result of debacle after debacle, especially on tour, with the West Indies always the receiver of massive beatings.

Jimmy Adams, Curtly Ambrose, Sherwin Campbell, Shivnarine Chanderpaul, Pedro Collins, Mervyn Dillon, Christopher Gayle, Adrian Griffith, Wavell Hinds, Ridley Jacobs, Reon King, Brian Lara, Nixon McLean, Renaco Morton, Mahendra Nagamootoo, Nehemiah Perry, Ricardo Powell, Dininath Ramnarine, Franklyn Rose and Courtney Walsh all have an initial tremendous but immediate responsibility over the next three months.

It is their only brief that, somehow, they must be able to assess things quickly, then be able to act with decisiveness and delivery so that the common West Indian supporter, and the cricket overall, do not suffer even more pain than they have already had in the recent past.

This task, for these 20 players, is probably the most enormous one ever given to a West Indies cricket team, even with the likes of Lara (still hopeful to play sometime), Adams, Chanderpaul, Walsh, Campbell, Jacobs and Ambrose around. These, incidentally, have all been involved in every negative and dastardly poor cricket situation to befall the West Indies cricket team in the last several years.

Hopefully, this combination of veterans named above, along with emerging players; Rose, Collins, Dillon, Gayle, Griffith, Hinds, King, McLean, Morton, Nagamootoo, Perry, Powell and Ramnarine, plus a few others who must be added later, based on performances, would bring some new and renewed vigor, effort and positive results to the proceedings of West Indies cricket. In these younger, not so experienced players lie the hope for the future, a hope which must be foundationed by the basics in temperament, leadership and know-how, as instilled by the new coaches, Roger Harper and Jeff Dujon, the new manager, in Ricky Skerritt, and the players themselves.

There are so many new names here that one could even be forgiven for thinking that some leeway should be allowed for "learning the ropes." Unfortunately for the "new" West Indies cricket team, immediate "on the job training" is all that is available. Thence, performances are expected to begin well and progress in an upward spiral. There is no more room nor time anywhere for failure and lack of success.

Zimbabwe are already here. Pakistan are enroute. As is suggested so very often at Disney World, "Now is the time; Now is the time; Now is the only time to change everything!"