The inside information on the West Indies’ brief series in India that Bennett King provided for his fellow selectors in Barbados yesterday would hardly have varied much from other recent campaigns in the lead-up to the World Cup.
The head coach would have reported, as he did after the longer trip involving the DLF Cup in Malaysia, the Champions Trophy in India and the bilateral series in Pakistan, that there were some encouraging signs and that the team had been generally competitive.
The defeats in the first two matches, on utterly contrasting pitches, were by narrow margins and only decided in the final over. Victory in the third was earned by spirit and commitment.
There was again verification that, in the absence of genuine, penetrative pace, the slower the bowling, the more constraining on run-filled pitches against quality batting.
Yet the key aspect of King’s report should have concerned the heavy defeat in the final, decisive match and the trend that it perpetuated.
Any team can have an off-day, especially in the limited-overs game where there is no second innings to offer a comeback. But to fail four times in succession at the crunch, against opponents they had beaten in their previous encounter, represents a troubling tendancy.
Brian Lara put it down to “stage fright” after the Champions Trophy final against Australia in Mumbai in November when the West Indies subsided from the pulsating start of 49 off five overs by Chris Gayle and Shivnarine Chanderpaul to be all out for 138.
Signs of pressure were evident again in Varodara on Wednesday.
Daren Powell and the usually steady Ian Bradshaw lost control as the dominant Indians went after them, the always brilliant Dwayne Smith missed a straightforward catch and fumbled more than once in the deep and every run-out throw from the in-field missed the target.
In contrast, the Indians were fired up as they hadn’t been in any previous match against the West Indies, whether in the Caribbean last season, in the Champions Trophy or the previous three in this series.
With batting class and experience to enforce their plan, they attacked from the start once Lara chose to bowl at the toss and were exceptional in the field where Yuvraj Singh and Robin Uthappa latched on to two stunning catches and the substitute, Suresh Raina, swooped to run out Lendl Simmons with a direct, underarm hit of the one stump he had to aim at.
Such things don’t happen by chance. They are the result of proper planning and preparation. The day before the Varadora match, the press was aghast at the rare intensity of India’s fielding practice. At the same time, Greg Chappell deliberately voiced his concern on television over the number of over-30 slow coaches in the team.
The combined effect of the fielding session and the coach’s goading were obvious in the next day’s zeal.
While the so-called “performance enhancers” who abound in most international teams are all well and good, the real leaders of the team must be the captain and the coach.
Rather than another professional mind-bender, it is up to Lara and King and his staff (now, with Lara’s weighty commendation, to presumably include Hendy Springer) to dispel the “stage fright” that seems to grip the West Indies at critical times.
Every match in the World Cup from the Super Eight stage on is critical. There is no room for freezing then.
The professionals that need to be added as soon as possible are the fitness co-ordinator, an essential position vacant since Bryce Cavanaugh took off back to Australia midway through the Pakistan tour in December, and a fielding – or, more precisely, a throwing – coach. At one time or another, as many as half-dozen players in the West Indies team have had their arms enfeebled by poor throwing technique. The deficiency diminishes the entire fielding effort and frustrates the bowlers.
Ian Bradshaw’s problem seems permanent. Corey Collymore is confined to bowling the ball back from the deep or relaying it underarm. Ramnaresh Sarwan’s weakness is only now recovering.
The sight of Chanderpaul’s strapped elbow and Gayle clutching his shoulder on Wednesday after one long distance return compounds the problem on the eve of the World Cup. It need not be so. Any baseball coach can teach the correct, injury-free method of throwing a ball from the outfield. The Australians have had one for a couple of years now and they credit Mick Young’s work with their high standards.
It may be too late to make a noticeable difference for the World Cup but such specialized coaching in one vital department is necessary at all levels. Otherwise, the West Indies will continue to carry winged ducks onto the field.
Contenders for the final squad of 15, to be named by February 13, would also have occupied attention at yesterday’s meeting of the panel. Of those on the periphery, Devon Smith placed a strong underline to his name in India, Runako Morton’s moved sharply down the list and question marks remained attached to Denesh Ramdin’s.
Lendl Simmons and the newcomer, Rayad Emrit, had so little chance that their best work was in the outfield, although Emrit endured the trauma of bowling the final overs in the last match at Sachin Tendulkar and Mahendra Singh Dhoni at their most ruthless.
While he compiled no sizeable score, Devon Smith, the little left-hander, used the opportunity of his delayed return to the senior team to confirm the qualities that got him there in the first place, nearly three years ago, at the age of 22.
He batted with solid assurance at the top of the order while, sent to patrol the boundaries from his usual position at slip, his speed and strong throw added a new dimension to his cricket. He could find himself in the final World Cup squad, a transformation that did not seem possible a month ago.
There are others who have come into the reckoning in the domestic tournaments while the chosen few were away in India. Not least among them is Keiron Pollard, the teenage, six-hitting sensation from Trinidad and Tobago.
There is very little time now for convenor Gordon Greenidge and his panel to settle on their best combination. Whatever they come up with, the most essential prerequisite is to get rid of the last match meltdown syndrome – and that is mainly up to Lara and King,
