Windies need 'a few tough men' (2 June 1999)
London - It wasn't difficult to imagine what Sir Viv Richards was thinking as he watched the feeble West Indies batting that led to the critical World Cup loss to Australia on Sunday in his first match as acting coach
02-Jun-1999
2 June 1999
Windies need 'a few tough men'
Tony Cozier
London - It wasn't difficult to imagine what Sir Viv Richards
was thinking as he watched the feeble West Indies batting that
led to the critical World Cup loss to Australia on Sunday in his
first match as acting coach.
"I sensed that the mood was pretty good, pretty positive before
the match," he said.
"But it's when you get out there that the real test comes, and I
didn't think some of our guys had it.
"It's a necessary ally of talent and goes by several names -
confidence, attitude, self-belief."
Sir Viv, the Master Blaster, the highest run-scorer in West
Indies Test history, the former captain, possessed "it" in such
quantities that, in his case, it was called something else -
arrogance.
Just to see him stride to the wicket, head up, chest out, arms
swinging, jaws chewing gum, was enough to tell the story.
Its antithesis is self-doubt and fear of failure. It is
epitomised by the body language of so many modern West Indian
batsmen on their way to the middle, head bowed, shoulders
stooped, bat dragging behind them.
Whether Sir Viv's attachment to the Test team is to become
permanent, in whatever role, will be decided by the West Indies
Cricket Board (WICB) at its next meeting in October.
If he is to continue - and he said he would "love to if called
upon" - Sir Viv would want players under him whose approach to
the game mirrored his.
'Substance'
"We have got to look for young individuals with ability and
talent, sure, but we've got to make sure they have substance,
that they are fighters," he said.
"We shouldn't get carried away with the one-innings wonders who
are sudden stars after a few runs in the Busta Cup," he
cautioned.
"The selectors must look for consistency and get to know more
about the individuals than just by the scores or by watching
them for a match. They've got to know how they stand up to
pressure, what their attitude is like."
He used two examples from the World Cup squad to make his point.
"Ridley Jacobs is the perfect example of what I mean," he said.
"He just goes out there and gets the job done.
"I hope the others can look and see what he is doing and get
positive vibes from him," he added. "Every time you ask him to
put his hand up, he's there performing. We need more like Ridley
Jacobs."
Sir Viv identified Ricardo Powell, the 20-year-old Jamaican
batsman, off-spin bowler and classy fielder, as a young player
to be developed.
"He seems to be keen and wants to learn," he said. "He is
positive, he is young and he is a talent to work with. We have
got to get him into the international set-up quickly, and the
same with other young players with his attitude and talent.
"We've got Brian Lara who is only 30 and has plenty of cricket
left, and Shivnarine Chanderpaul, who certainly has the
temperament. Now it's for some young players to stand up and be
counted."
Praising the quality, and commitment, of the bowlers, especially
Curtly Ambrose and Courtney Walsh, he said Sunday's failure by
the batsmen was partiularly disappointing because he estimated a
total of 200 would have been "respectable enough" to challenge
Australia.
"If we had got there, we would have had the chance to exclude
all the mathematical calculations that followed," he noted.
"It would have maintained our run rate and put it virtually
beyond New Zealand.
"The batting collapse was especially galling because so many
wickets were lost to poor shots.
"When you're getting out chopping on, that's bad batting," he
said.
Sir Viv was drafted in to act as coach after Malcolm Marshall
underwent surgery for the removal of a tumour in the colon in a
Birmingham hospital on May 22.
He had been initially approached by the WICB to be batting coach
for the World Cup but could not come to an agreement over terms.
He was in England covering the tournament on radio and
television for the BBC when the WICB asked him to replace
Marshall.
He said he was uncertain whether he would rejoin the BBC
commentary team for the remainder of the World Cup, especially
now that the West Indies had been eliminated.
"That's in the hands of my agents," he said.
His long-term future is in the hands of the WICB.
Source :: The Barbados Nation (https://www.nationnews.com/)