Date-stamped : 12 Apr95 - 14:39 Australia threaten right to supremacy Mike Selvey in Bridgetown senses a crisis of captaincy and morale in West Indies` camp THIRTY years ago, in May 1965, an Australia team led by the current coach Bob Simpson went to Queen`s Park Oval in Trinidad and defeated Garry Sobers`s West Indians by 10 wickets inside three days. West Indies did not suffer such a defeat again, not by any side anywhere - until the overwhelming Australian win ear- ly in the final session of play on Sunday. It is a monumental achievement that has not gone down well lo- cally. According to Joel Garner, West Indies have suffered the greatest humiliation in their cricket history. Others have described the home team`s performance as "disgraceful", "negli- gent", "careless", "indifferent" and "demoralising". Few gave credit to a buoyant Australian team performance. No one wins matches by divine right, not even West Indies, who dominated the international game through the Seventies and Eighties. They have lost Tests; they have even lost series, though only two since 1975/6, to India and New Zealand, and none of their last 29. They have sometimes been slow off the blocks: England beat them in Jamaica five years ago and Viv Richards shrugged his shoulders and said they needed a boot up the backside and they would be back. They were. Then again, in Australia two years ago they got out of jail in Brisbane, encountered Shane Warne for the first time in Mel- bourne and lost, drew in Sydney, won a thrilling Test in Adelaide and went on to murder Australia in Perth. Richie Richardson, West Indies` captain again, is equally un- concerned this time. "It`s not the first time we are losing a Test match," he said. "So we are not worried in any way. We be- lieve we can come good. The guys just have to leave behind their one-day attitude." Or perhaps their three-day attitude. It is a very Caribbean attitude: the sun will still rise in the morning; room service will get there in the end. Why worry, man? But it is not so simple. Once, in their pomp, West Indies` cricket was a byword for professionalism, organisation, fitness and ruthlessness. Now Australia, as they demonstrated roundly to England and reiterated here, have taken the lead. West Indies were beaten not because of anything so facile as the toss but because their minds were not on the job in hand and they were outplayed in every facet of the game. Australia were better prepared for the Big Bang and, incidentally, the lead-up to it consisted of five one-day internationals, a walk-over in Georgetown and a wash-out in St Lucia. So much for England`s pol- icy of lengthy preparations. Clearly there are problems in the West Indies camp, not least with the leadership. For the past year, while Richardson has been recovering from what was eventually diagnosed as a form of ME, Courtney Walsh had been leading the side in a proud, efficient and popular way. Richardson`s immediate return was not greeted with general enthusiasm. It was he, the Caribbean public recall, who in his first match in charge almost lost the proud Bridgetown record to South Africa before first the debutant Adams, then Ambrose and Walsh bailed him out; he who almost lost that last series in Australia; he who then did lose to England at Kensington Oval, tantamount to a criminal offence in local eyes. And now it is he who presided over this debacle. Richardson is a splendid, uncomplicated, honest fellow but, if the silence that greeted his walk to the wicket and the merely polite acknowledgment of his thunderous boundaries are any guide, his stock is low. There needed to be positive debate in the dressing room but it must have been hard when the captain got out at crucial times to two of the worst shots of the game. The problem is that Richardson`s predecessors Clive Lloyd and Richards did not need to be cerebral leaders. World-class batsmen got the runs and, if Marshall or Holding did not get a wicket, then Garner or Roberts would. Richardson is of same school without the luxury of the staff and, to progress, West Indies cricket needs something more now. "Cut off the head and the body withers" is a rather Gumpish West Indies cricket saying: identify and remove the general and the rest will follow. If they are to come back in this series, they might well need to look at their own heads. Source :: The Guardian Contributed by Ram.Krishnan (rkrishna@garnet.acns.fsu.edu)