Windies move on (4 March 1999)

4 March 1999

Windies move on

Garth Wattley

"I'd just love to put that South African tour totally behind us and see if we can just move on. It's very important."

West Indies captain Brian Lara was trying his best to shake off his South African millstone.

"I think the guys have put the South African series behind them," Lara told a packed room of media personnel at the Hilton Hotel at the launch of the Cable and Wireless Test series yesterday.

"It is important to do that," he added.

"It was a disastrous tour and it's best left in the history books. To think about the past would be defeating."

Australian captain Steve Waugh, also sitting at the head table, was quietly taking notes. Perhaps he was planning to re-write the history books once more in a way that Lara would dread.

But for the three West Indies representatives at the launch, the captain, manager Clive Lloyd and coach Malcolm Marshall, the hope is to salvage something.

"Whatever situation, negative or not, there is something you can take from it and use for the future," Lara said.

"The sort of cricket that the South African team played is something that we'd love to see the West Indian team try to repeat. That's what we are aiming for."

Lloyd who, like Lara and Marshall, has had his work called into question by the West Indies Cricket Board, agreed that management had to share some responsibility for the debacle. But he said, "It's a different thing when you're not playing. When you're playing, you can go out and do things."

And Lloyd was more philosophical about the current state of the WI game.

"At the moment I don't think that we have a lot of shining lights," he said.

"But we have to try and motivate the youngsters that we have. It will take some time. We've lost quite a lot of cricketers. It's not easy to replace them.

"We've been winning at home but just not doing as well outside. So I don't think it's a disaster. We've done well for 18-20 years. At some stage the curve would dip and it has.

"And we have to try and do things that would put our cricket back at the top of the tree."

Marshall also showed himself prepared to accept some responsibility for the events in South Africa.

Some but not all. And he had one complaint.

"Once you are part of a losing unit, you have to share part of the blame. But what would also be nice is that when you do win, you get a bit of the praise as well. When you lose you tend to crucify the captain, the manager and coach. But when you do win, you don't hear anyone in the Caribbean or around the world saying 'Well done!' to the manager or the coach."

Waugh, untroubled by any public vilification, is not yet feeling the pressures of captaincy.

"I'm lucky to take over a side that is a very good cricket side, a lot of experience. The guys know how to win. I think that's going to help me as a captain, particularly the bowlers," he said.

Lara, however, apart from having to pull a team with five new players together, is also struggling with his fitness.

The captain looked comfortable enough during a light net yesterday and stated at the series launch that he was "90 per cent" certain to play tomorrow.

Yesterday he was awaiting the results of a scan on his damaged right wrist to determine whether he will play in tomorrow's Test.

"There's a crack in the bone. I've been practising and feeling okay." As captain and the only batting survivor from South Africa, Lara's experience will be needed to bolster a team in flux.

But despite present appearances, Waugh is leaving nothing to chance. "We've looked at all the press about how the West Indies are struggling but I know come Friday morning they are going to be tough in that first session."

Source :: The Trinidad Express (https://www.trinidad.net/express/)