Dear Editor,
I read Coach Law’s comments made earlier today and I sympathise with him. I agree with him that it would have been better if Ambrose had addressed the players directly. But Law must understand that whether Ambrose admits it publicly or not he was fired ignominously and in bad taste by the board.
West Indian administrators have a tendency to be insensitive in their dealings with West Indian cricketers. Look at the way Sammy was fired by the WICB, and how Simmons was mistreated. Maybe Law should have approached Ambrose before the series and had a discussion with him.
That said, there are a few things Law should keep in mind for the next game:
If Holder is lucky enough to win the toss he must not even think of sending England in to bat.
Law should have noticed how Moen Ali went off the field to get help with his bowling, and what appeared to be the immediate results of that get together. West Indian coaches must devise methods of communicating quickly with the men on the field without running afoul of whatever rule may exist that is supposed to stand in their way.
Close to the wicket, fieldsmen must be drilled incessantly with the maxim that you must operate on the assumption that every ball is coming to you. No close to the wicket fieldsman must drop a catch or fail to stop a ball because of a lapse in concentration.
Batsmen must be reminded of what likely strategies bowlers will use to get them out so that they could be in a counteractive frame of mind.
Batsmen must be reminded of the need to do relaxation exercises at the wicket.
Batsmen must be very alive to the review situation and pay very close attention so that they can help their partners.
Batsmen must try to find ways of effecting end-switching when they believe they can better handle a particular bowler. It is said that Worrell and Weekes were very adept at that sort of thing. For example, a right-hander will try to face off-spinners and a left-hander, leg-spinners.
Remind the skipper to set aggressive fields for new batsmen.
Let Joseph know that he is most likely to be successful if he bowls as fast as his body allows.
Yours faithfully,
Romain Pitt
