West Indies physio sets new targets

Stephen Partridge, recently appointed physiotherapist of the West Indies cricket team, believes that the 25-man squad attending a three-week camp ahead of the VB Series in Australia need to step up their physical fitness. Partridge, who is part of Bennett King's new set-up, pronounced himself satisfied with the skill levels, but added that greater fitness was imperative to allow the players to fully express those skills.

According to The Daily Nation in Barbados, Partridge was quoted as saying: "The group in general I think need to be working in terms of bringing up the basic level. Quite a few of them need to do a lot of work on their fitness ability and quite a few of the fast bowlers need to be working a lot more on their core strength."

West Indies take on Australia and Pakistan in the VB Series and Partridge was confident that his wards would be up to speed before they travelled to Australia. "They are going to work out. No doubt about that," he said. "My job is to put them through their paces and make sure they get through okay, to teach them ideals, how to look after their bodies and how to recover.

"In the limited-overs series in Australia, you are playing in the day and travelling around at night, so you need to be in very good shape with your body and know what is required to get it ready for cricket. We are putting these guys through recovery strategies. This is not so much about breaking them, but getting them to work out and learn how to be able to get back up the next day and work again."

Like King, Partridge too was previously associated with Queensland and the Australia A team.