West Indies: Putting win in the sails

West Indies cricket is still reeling after yet another of the internal upheavals that have repeatedly rocked it to its very foundations.

Even as it continues to endure the inevitable aftershocks, it faces immediate challenges from outside, from Zimbabwe and Pakistan, and has to hastily rebuild with an entirely new team of contractors.

While Antiguans have been angrily protesting and petitioning over the coaching post and the treatment of Sir Viv Richards, their most celebrated son of the soil, while Trinidadians are fuming over the absence of a single one of their own in the chosen team on their own ground and while everyone has been concerned over the future of Brian Lara, an intensive camp has been in progress over the past week in Kingston to get ready for the two Tests against Zimbabwe.

Jimmy Adams, the fourth captain in four years, the two new coaches, Roger Harper and Jeffrey Dujon, the new manager, Ricky Skerritt, the new sports therapist/trainer, Ronald Rogers, and the reinstated psychologist, Dr. Rudi Webster, did what they had to do to ensure that everyone was technically, physically and mentally ready. We anxiously await the results.

It is an apt and telling commentary on the current state of affairs.

Not so very long ago, Zimbabwe would have been seen as a chance to expose some new, young players to Test cricket.

Elite club

They are the most recent team to be admitted to the elite club, draw from a small pool of first-class players and have won only three of their 39 Tests.

But the West Indies are no longer in a position to take anyone for granted.

Lara's withdrawal has suddenly made the contest so potentially competitive the selectors have picked both Curtly Ambrose and Courtney Walsh whose class and experience, in the circumstances, override their ages and their injuries and the claims of promising young fast bowlers.

There seems to be little cause of optimism except that, in so many cases, such adversity tends to bring the best out of sporting teams.

It was only a year ago that Lara responded to the humiliation of South Africa, his public chiding by the WICB and an all-out 51 in front of his home crowd at the Queen's Park Oval with those unforgettable innings that inspired the West Indies to an unlikely share of the series against the mighty Australians.

It revealed a steely side of his character and makes his decision to take a break at such a critical time so disappointing.

Change is often another catalyst for renaissance and Harper, Dujon and company, unfairly rebuked as they have been, might just get the best out of their charges, individually and collectively.

This was the area where their predecessors failed, for it is surely one of the principal responsibilities of captain, coach and manager to ensure that everyone under them is performing to his potential.

It was Clive Lloyd's greatest attribute in his long and successful term as captain but his effectiveness as manager was compromised by his increasingly bitter relations with the WICB.

The Harper-Dujon-Skerritt combination will be judged mainly on the win-loss column and that will depend mainly on whether they can instill in the players the confidence, commitment and discipline that have been patently lacking.

Those who have gone before Harper - most pointedly Andy Roberts and Malcolm Marshall - have commented that they couldn't get their message through, that very few were listening.

Reliable reports from New Zealand were that Sir Viv had the same difficulty.

In that case, any coach's job is redundant. But if he can get his points across, if he can eliminate the basic flaws that have crept into the play of so many West Indians, if he can develop a close and understanding relationship with his captain, he can make a quick and significant difference.

The evidence is all around us.

Sri Lanka won the 1996 World Cup under Dav Whatmore, a native Sri Lankan who played a few Tests during the Packer era when resident in Australia.

They temporarily lost their way when he departed for a stint with Lancashire but have now reeled off successive triumphs in Test and limited-overs series over Australia, Zimbabwe and Pakistan on his return and the change of captains from the long-serving Arjuna Ranatunga to the fresh Sanath Jayasuriya.

New Zealand, never one of Test cricket's powerhouses, were at the bottom of the heap when Steve Rixon, the former Australian wicket-keeper but hardly a star name, took over as coach in 1996.

Like Whatmore, he concentrated on the basics like fielding, running between the wickets and sticking to a game plan, made them believe in themselves and turned their fortunes around within a year.

Bob Woolmer, another ordinary Test player for England, had much the same effect on South Africa, using simple common-sense methods.

John Buchanan, not a Test player at all, took over as Australia's coach last year and has since had the satisfaction of a record string of One-Day victories and eight Test wins in a row.

One common factor in each of these has been the concentration on running between the wickets and fielding where they all now excel.

Covering the current Sri Lanka tour of Pakistan, I was astounded by the standard of the Sri Lankans' outcricket - their catching, their ground fielding, the discipline of their faster bowlers especially and by their unity.

Pakistan had more talent and, on paper, were the better balanced side - just as the West Indies were in New Zealand. But this counts for nothing if it is not properly applied.