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A tough task
Saturday, November 07, 2009
The West Indies have not beaten mighty Australia in a Test series since 1993 and there is absolutely no reason to believe that situation will have changed at the close of the upcoming tour Down Under.
But for cricket fans there is at least the knowledge that the farcical situation of recent months involving the fielding of woefully under-strength 'pick-up' West Indies teams has come to an end.
We trust the entire episode will have served as a lesson to the players, their union, the West Indies Players' Association and management, the West Indies Cricket Board.
Of course, the problems have not gone away. The contentious issues to be arbitrated, including image rights, are deep-seated, reflecting the extent to which international sport is now a professional endeavour requiring treatment of a very different nature from decades ago.
Also, the restructuring and rebranding of West Indies cricket from the level of the Board to all reaches remain as crucial as ever. We sense from this distance a gradual recognition at all levels that this must happen if the regional sport and its uniquely representative team is to be viably sustained.
So for now at least, West Indies captain Mr Chris Gayle and his men can again concentrate on representing the West Indies on the field of play. In the aftermath of the bitter dispute between players and administrators, the team is under-prepared.
The just-ended regional limited overs tournament in Guyana, which partially served as a qualifier for the Australia tour since the players had to show up in order to be eligible for selection, may have been also meant as a 'tune-up' opportunity.
The trouble is that the tournament, which was way too short to begin with, was hit hard by rain. Also, the pitches in Guyana, which are typically slow with low bounce, are very different from the pacy, bouncy varieties which are typical of Australia.
The West Indies will be up against an Australia team that remains strong despite the retirement in recent years of several of its greatest players. The Australians will also be itching to redeem themselves in front of home support after losing to England in their Test series in that country in mid-year.
Given all of that, the West Indies will be hard-pressed to avoid being beaten. Indeed, the odd-makers will expect the Australians to win all three Tests.
But this West Indies team has shown in the recent past that it is capable of competing with the best. Lest we forget, Mr Gayle and his men recorded a memorable 1-0 win over England in a five-Test series in the Caribbean earlier this year. Sadly, they would give up the Wisden Trophy immediately after, during an ill-advised tour of England in the cold and damp of early Spring.
It's worthy of note that the outstanding performance of the Trinidad and Tobago team in the recent Champions League tournament in India suggests that the talent pool in West Indies cricket is not as poor as some would have us believe.
A challenge for the tour management team of manager Mr Joel Garner and coach Mr David Williams will be to ensure that any lingering bitterness between the established players and those four squad members who ignored the dictates of the players' union and represented the West Indies during the recent strife-torn months will be quickly put aside.
The hope of this newspaper and of all well-thinking West Indians is that regardless of the results, this West Indies team will compete to the very best of its abilities and that its members will be ambassadors in the finest tradition. We wish them well.
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