Poor preparation behind India’s Test debacle, says Clive Lloyd

LONDON: Former West Indian captain Clive Lloyd on Friday said that he was surprised in India’s 0-4 whitewash in the Test series against England and blamed poor preparation of Mahendra Singh Dhoni’s men as the main reason for the debacle.


‘‘Nobody expected England to beat India 4-0. But you can’t come to any country and play just one warm up game,” said Lloyd who, as chairman of ICC Cricket Committee, was here to announce the names of shortlisted players for various awards for the ICC Awards ceremony on September 12.


‘‘Young players especially need 3-4 four-day games before Tests and couple in between. If you are out of form, you don’t get your form in nets,’’ he said.


Lloyd gave the example of Virender Sehwag to drive him his point that without preparation a player howesover big would struggle.


‘‘You don’t get runs by walking straight in. I don’t care how good you are, you don’t get it. You are not going to run into form in Test matches. You need to get your timing right, the foot movement, picking the ball properly,’’ he said.


Lloyd described the current Indian bowling attack, especially the spinners, as the weakest he has seen during his years of association with the game.


“Spin-wise, it looks the weakest. You always had good spinners. As for fast bowlers, anyone would break down with the sort of workload which (Ishant) Sharma had.” —

India's Tour To West Indies : Chris Gayle out,Suresh Raina relieved

Indian captain Suresh Raina on Friday expressed relief that Chris Gayle would be missing at least the first three games of the present limited overs series against his team.

"To be honest yes (I'm relieved)," Raina remarked on the eve of the Twenty20 match which opens the six-week tour against the West Indies here on Friday.

Gayle took the recent IPL by storm. The West Indian was the highest scorer (608 runs) with a strike rate in excess of 183 for Royal Challengers Bangalore.

Raina remarked there is enough for his boys to be motivated to do well in the present series.

"There is no shortage of motivation now that we have a reputation to defend, we are the world champions."

Raina is personally looking to perform consistently which would help to exorcise his demons against the short-pitched delivery and cement his place in the Test team.

"I am hitting the ball well and learning all the time in the company of Stephen Fleming, Gary Kirsten and now Duncan Fletcher."

Incidentally, all the three were left-handers during their careers.

Indian coach Duncan Fletcher is excited by the Indian team's talent, which he had a chance to see first hand as a consultant to New Zealand side last winter.

He also realises the challenge confronting him, not the least because a different approach would be required while dealing with seniors and juniors.

"I was consultant to New Zealand (last winter) and just watching those young Indian players was very exciting.

These young players have the calibre, they have been exposed early to top class cricket. They look very positive," he said.

"Dealing juniors from seniors present different scenarios. Each player needs different handling. Personally for me, its difficult to keep up with the standards they have set. Yet there is scope to get better and improve."

Fletcher seems to not consider the volume of cricket played in the negative light.

"With the volume there is also a bigger pool of cricketers. It is a reality and you need to adjust to the present demands."

West Indian captain Darren Sammy said his side was equally motivated to do well.

"They are the best side in the world and you are motivated to do well against them. I haven't performed as I would have liked to but I want to give my best."

Sammy was not worried about the comments in the Caribbean that he did not quite deserve his place in the squad.

"I can do little about these comments. Fortunately I have a set of people around me who think differently, they support me. I too have belief in my ability."

West Indies presently are having difficulty against spinners and coach Ottis Gibson believed his team has talent to tackle it.

Gibson did not want to get drawn into the controversy of players vs board in the Caribbean presently and said it was not for him to comment on it.

(PTI)

"Windies young talent is surprisingly impressive" says Hooper

Former West Indies captain Carl Hooper says he can foresee the long struggling team bouncing back soon in world cricket as the young talent is surprisingly impressive.

“From what is being channelled into the development of West Indies cricket. We are certainly going in the right direction. Getting young cricketers involved and helping them in every way is certainly going in the right direction. It definitely will help. I can see us coming back up in world cricket,” he said.

Hooper has been appointed batting coach of the Sagicor High Performance Centre and is amazed by the talent he has seen so far.

“The amount of talent I am seeing here (at the Sagicor HPC) has surprised me. I was away (from West Indies) for a while and you would see the game on television, but now that you get close and actually see the guys playing it is clear there is still a lot of talent around,” the 44-year-old, who lives in Australia, was quoted as saying by the local media here.

“Having an ‘academy’ is a great thing for West Indies cricket. The good thing about it is that you have your best young players assembled together and they get to work together as a team. The efforts and emphasis, as is being done, have to be placed on ‘academies’ at the developmental levels, if we are to see an improvement in the game,” he added.

Hooper said the development programme is well-structured.

“The focus is to point the players in the right direction. Looking at a few of the guys, while there have very good hands and eyes — which has been one of the strengths of West Indians over the year — we need to work on some of the footwork.

“This is an area that I will spend the next few months working on and trying to encourage the young batsmen to use their feet a bit more,” Hooper explained.

Hooper played for the West Indies between 1987 and 2003, competing in 102 Test matches and 227 One-Day Internationals before retiring after the 2003 World Cup in South Africa.

The Caribbean coach Ottis Gibson has advised his batsmen to rotate the strike

Wary of India’s lethal spin attack, West Indies coach Ottis Gibson has advised his batsmen to rotate the strike quickly while negotiating the slow ball bowlers of the World champion side in the upcoming tour.

The Caribbean batsmen had struggled against the Pakistani spin trio of Saeed Ajmal, Mohammed Hafeez and Abdur Rehman in the Test and ODI series, and Gibson wants his players to learn from the mistakes and perform better against India.

West Indies lost the ODI series against Pakistan 2-3 and drew the Test series 1-1.

India, top-ranked Test team, will begin its Caribbean tour here on June 4 with a one-off Twenty20 clash, which will be followed by a five-match ODI series and three Tests.

While Harbhajan Singh is certain to figure in both the Test and ODI series, leg-spinner Amit Mishra and off-spinner Ravi Ashwin have so far been included for the One-dayers.

Indian spinners have shown good form in the IPL but Gibson believes his side can compete well against them.

“It is not a lot of time but we got a lot of players that have played the spin and made runs against spin before. People just have to be clear what their game plan is against spin and back themselves and their ability,” Gibson said.

The coach, though, advised his players to not let the spinners bowl too many dot balls.

“They are setting us up, working us out and getting us out quite easy so we need to be able to rotate the strike against the spinners a lot more and make sure that the bowlers aren’t bowling too many balls in succession to us.

“Sometimes, we look very tentative and we sort of lock ourselves in a hole and then our only response is to try to hit ourselves out of the hole. We got to find the balance between attack and defence,” Gibson was quoted as saying by ’Trinidad Express’

West Indies skipper Darren Sammy also feels that their fate in the contest against India would depend a lot on how they handle the spinners.

“We as a batting group have to play spin better. Not only in the Test series but in the One-Day series as well, they gave our batsmen trouble.

“I know the guys are working hard with the batting coach (Desmond Haynes) in the nets and I can foresee a better performance against India,” Sammy said.

“The batting definitely has to come to the party where we could bat long and put good totals on the board so the bowlers could have something to work with. It’s a big series and we all looking forward to it,” he added.

Pakistan vs. West Indies : Saeed Ajmal continued to torment the West Indies

Saeed Ajmal continued to torment the West Indies as he bowled Pakistan back into the opening Test on Saturday when the host was reduced to 96 for seven in its second innings for an overall lead of 162.

The off-spinner took four for 23 from 14 overs for match figures of nine for 92 to leave the West Indies tottering at lunch on the third day at the Guyana National Stadium, with Shivnarine Chanderpaul batting on 12 and Darren Sammy batting on seven.

Ajmal struck with the fifth ball of the day, after West Indies continued from its overnight total of 34 for two.

He removed night-watchman Kemar Roach lbw for three, following the West Indies fast bowler's unsuccessful review of New Zealand umpire Tony Hill's decision.

It was the 13th lbw decision awarded in the match.

Ajmal continued to mesmerise the West Indies batsmen, many of whom have failed to pick his doosra, removing Ramnaresh Sarwan for 11 and Carlton Baugh for seven.

Ajmal was unfortunate that he did not count Lendl Simmons among his scalps, when the West Indies opener, on 20, charged down the pitch, and slogged at a flighted delivery. Pakistan is seeking their maiden Test series victory in the Caribbean.

Simmons ensures West Indies ends on a high

Pakistan's batting was undermined by West Indies' three frontline seamers and their bowling upstaged by another blistering innings from Lendl Simmons in a 10-wicket loss in the fifth one-day international.

A fluent 55 off 83 balls from Mohammad Hafeez failed to inspire the Pakistanis, and their batting crumbled for the first time in the series as they were all out for 139 in 41.2 overs after they chose to bat on an unpredictable Guyana National Stadium pitch.

The visitors' bowlers found it difficult to defend such a modest target as Simmons hit a career-best, unbeaten 77 from 73 deliveries, and fellow opener Kirk Edwards supported with 40 from 71 ball to guide the hosts to victory with 159 balls remaining.

Pakistan however, won the five-match series 3-2, with comfortable victories in the first three matches, securing the result.

"It is a disappointing end to the series for us because it was not a pitch on which we should have been dismissed for 139," said Pakistan captain Shahid Afridi.

"Our batting has been struggling for a long time, and I think we need someone to help us with situations like this."

"We all wanted to bat on this pitch and that is why the management and I decided to bat, but we did not play well. The thing that I always keep stressing - building partnerships - we did not build any partnerships and this is what was missing."

Afridi added: "The series victory is important for us. We are not playing any cricket at home, so winning this series is very important and will keep the morale high, and I think for the future it will be good for us."

Hafeez and Umar Akmal were the only Pakistani batsman to pass 20 as Ravi Rampaul up-ended the visitors batting with four for 45 from his allotted 10 overs.

West Indies captain Darren Sammy grabbed three for 30 from 10 overs, and Dwayne Bravo supported with two for 16.

"It is a good feeling to have won again, but it's been well-played in the last two games for the boys," said Sammy.

"We played as a team, and got the result that we wanted. This was the type of performance for which we have been searching for a very long time. It showed the good work that we have been doing at practices has finally transferred to the game, and it was good to see everybody taking part, and it was a total team effort."

He added: "The way we have chased down totals in the last two games, I guess it may be fair to say that our guys are more comfortable doing this. But throughout the series, we created several opportunities to win it, but we did not put enough runs on the board."

Hafeez dropped Simmons on 31 at slip off Saeed Ajmal before the West Indies opener knocked a short delivery from Afridi to long-on to bring up his 50 from the same number of balls in the 16th over.

He then carried West Indies over the threshold when he punched a delivery from Ahmed Shehzad to point, and stole a second run from an overthrow.

The two sides now contest two Tests, starting next Thursday at this same ground, and from May 20 to 24 at Warner Park in St. Kitts.

Pakistan contest a two-day practice match on Sunday and Monday at Bourda Oval - the previous international venue here.

Bravo edges Windies to victory

Dwayne Bravo’s six in the final over proved crucial as West Indies eked out a one-run win under the Duckworth-Lewis method against Pakistan in a rain-reduced encounter at the Kensington Oval.

After two wickets had fallen in quick succession, it was left to Bravo to hit a maximum off Pakistan captain Shahid Afridi to see the West Indies home.

It was their first triumph over a senior side since India toured the Caribbean in 2009 and although Pakistan had already sealed a series success by winning the first three matches, Darren Sammy’s men can be proud of the way they battled.

They had been set a reduced target of 233 off 39 overs after a Mohammad Hafeez century helped Pakistan to 248 for nine from 50 overs.

Opener Kirk Edwards was out for a golden duck at the start of the Windies reply, but Lendl Simmons played with aggressive intent and was well supported by Darren Bravo.

The latter undid his good work by gifting a catch down to deep third man off Junaid Khan for 21 but the recalled Ramresh Sarwan and Simmons put on a partnership worth 75 for the third wicket.

However, Sarwan fell to the talismanic Hafeez in the 25th over and top-scorer Simmons was dismissed for a brisk 76 seven deliveries later to leaves the Windies reeling.

That brought new batsmen Dwayne Bravo and Marlon Samuels together and they guided their side to 148 for four after 29 overs.

Had the game been stopped then and there, it would have meant a draw but with orders from the dressing room to go for the win, Bravo leant back and put Afridi over midwicket for a six in the next over which proved to be the decisive blow as the heavens opened soon after.

Pakistan can only have themselves to blame as a late collapse saw them fail to make the most of Hafeez's outstanding ton.

Opener Hafeez made 121 off just 138 balls, smashing three sixes and seven fours, and built a second-wicket partnership worth 153 with Asad Shafiq after the early dismissal of Ahmed Shehzad for just six.

But after Shafiq went for 71, leaving Pakistan on 168 for two, the tourists' middle order failed to build on their early dominance.

Afridi added only eight and Misbah-ul-Haq five, meaning that when Hafeez's innings came to an end in the 46th over, bowled by Devendra Bishoo, Pakistan were on 219 for five and in the middle of a late collapse that saw them lose five wickets for 34 runs.

Bishoo made Hammad Azam his third victim, caught at fine leg for just one, but Pakistan were also the architects of their own downfall with first Mohammad Salman and then debutant Usman Salahuddin run out.

Tanvir put up some resistance, scoring a quickfire 18 off 12 balls with two sixes, but succumbed three balls from the finish when he was bowled off an inside edge by Dwayne Bravo.

Bishoo was the clear pick of the bowlers, taking 3-37, while Bravo’s brace cost 60 runs and Kemar Roach took 2-67.

Mohammad Hafeez's superb century was in vain as West Indies claimed a one-run win over Pakistan under the Duckworth-Lewis method

Chanderpaul accuses WI selectors of asking him to retire

Senior West Indies batsman Shivnarine Chanderpaul has alleged that the national selectors had asked him to retire after the World Cup and was dropped from the squad for the ongoing home series against Pakistan when he refused to comply with it.

Chanderpaul made the allegations in a letter to WICB chief Ernest Hilaire - the second such communication over the past few days - in which he has also sought explanations for various issues which are at the centre of current controversy in West Indian cricket.

Just a few days ago, Chanderpaul had shot off a letter to Hilaire, questioning his comments about the lack of discipline and application in the West Indies team over the last decade.

Hilaire responded on Friday, stating that his comments on cricketers did not name individual players and were based on reports and public comments made by previous coaches. He also stated that Chanderpaul “has been and remains a valued member of the West Indies first team squad“.

It was in response to this letter of Hilaire that Chanderpaul accused the selectors of having told him to retire after the World Cup.

“WICB selectors asked me to retire and were upset when I refused to do so. One of the selectors told me I would need to go to regional cricket and do exceptionally well and then they might consider me for future selection, despite me having the third best average in the World Cup for the WI cricket team, of anyone with more than two innings,” Chanderpual said in the letter.

“The coach said I did not do anything for the team in the last 12 months and hence the reason for me being dropped (from the squad for home Pakistan series),” Chanderpaul wrote, according to ‘ESPNcricinfo’

Chanderpaul also expressed his displeasure with Hilaire’s statement that he was acting on the “ill advice” of the West Indies Players Association.

“I may not be Dr Chanderpaul but I have been a top—ranked international batsman and we have to be able to think critically under the most intense and stressful situations.

“It is therefore distressing that you blame WIPA by implication, if not overtly, for my letter saying that WIPA was offering me ‘ill advice’ You may not be aware but I have faced the best bowlers in the world in my career and I know how to counter—attack. Furthermore, I am my own man and would ask that you respect that,” he said.

WICB chief slams Sarwan corruption rumours

GROS ISLET (St Lucia): West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) Chief Executive Ernest Hilaire has blamed irresponsible reporting for rumours that batsman Ramnaresh Sarwan was being investigated for match-fixing.
Hilaire was responding to an open letter from Guyana`s Minister of Sport, Frank Anthony, which criticised the WICB for failing to protect Sarwan from the damaging allegations.
Anthony had written the letter to the WICB seeking clarification on the matter, which made headlines in a few sections of the Caribbean media.
“When properly assessed, the situation is to be blamed squarely on an erratic and unprofessional approach from some irresponsible media operatives, who reproduced the information from [an] anonymous blog without bothering to verify the source or veracity of what was before them,” said Hilaire.
Hilaire informed the minister that the WICB had not spoken publicly about the matter because it does not have the authority to comment on such issues.
“It is the exclusive purview of the International Cricket Council,” he said. “In any event, if the WICB were to comment on every accusation, story, rumour, or suspicion expressed in the media or blogs, it would be a never-ending exercise of responses.”
He added: “The WICB is in possession of information from time to time on anti-corruption matters and I am sure you would agree that it would be inappropriate to distribute such information either to confirm or deny ongoing investigations or suspicions

We tried hard to reach out to Gayle: WICB

The West Indies Cricket Board dismissed Chris Gayle’s claims that he was dropped without being told, insisting that it was the flamboyant batsman who made himself unavailable for selection before heading off to the lucrative IPL.

WICB chief Ernest Hilaire said the Board did all it could to contact Gayle, who suffered an abdominal strain during the World Cup.

Gayle was not picked for the ongoing series against Pakistan and the batsman went on to state that his Board left him with no choice but to join IPL by not reaching out to him.

But the WICB contradicted his claims.

“We can dispel all that Chris (Gayle) said by releasing the letters and emails,” Hilaire told the ‘Line & Length Network’

“But we should not do that. You communicate with a player, you ask for his opinions, you ask for him to account on certain statements he made, you ask him what’s his position on certain things and you expect to be treated with a certain degree of confidence.

“...I’m not going to try to prove Chris Gayle is wrong.

What’s more important is to state that we’re very disappointed in the way in Chris has decided to respond. I think he is being ill—advised. We’ve worked exceedingly hard to reach out to Chris,” he said.

Hilaire said the WICB had no grudges against the player and it was proved by the No Objection Certificate he was handed for the IPL despite making himself unavailable for the series.

We’ve stated - it is not that we do not want the players to earn a living. We want them to earn a living but we also want them to honour their commitment to West Indies cricket. So we spoke to (Kieron) Pollard, (Dwayne) Bravo and Chris.

“Last October when the three players did not sign the retainer contracts, we wrote to them and said ‘tell us what the issues are so we can address it moving forward’,” Hilaire said.

“We had some exchanges, a couple of constructive ones, one not very constructive but we decided we were going to continue to engage the players. We did not want a situation where we pick the players to play for West Indies and they miss out on IPL, they are then bitter, disappointed, they wish they were at IPL. We would not benefit, they would not benefit,” he added.

“It did not exactly work out with Chris but when the point came and he said he was not available for selection, we did give him the NOC because it is not about revenge, it is not about denying him the opportunity.”

Hilaire said before he flew out for the IPL, the WICB believed that Gayle was recuperating from injury.

“We said to Chris repeatedly that as far as we are concerned you’re injured, you’re doing a rehabilitative programme, and that when you’re finished we want you tested and if you’re available we’ll pick you to play for West Indies,” Hilaire said.

“If you don’t want to play we have no difficulty in giving you the NOC once you say you’re not available for selection, and he said he was not available for selection and we gave him the NOC,” he explained.

Kevin Pietersen gets hit in the head with a bouncer and his helmet falls off and hits the wicket.

West Indies-Gayle,Chanderpaul, Sarwan dropped for ODI's

-c

MIAMI: The West Indies have dropped experienced batting trio Chris Gayle, Shivnarine Chanderpaul and Ramnaresh Sarwan for the upcoming one-day internationals against Pakistan.

A statement from the West Indies Cricket Board said the trio had been left out of squad for the opening two games in the five match series as part of a policy to encourage the development of younger players.

The move comes after widespread disappointment with the displays from senior players during the recent World Cup, where West Indies again failed to impress.

Nonetheless, the dropping of three former captains who have made up the bulk of the Caribbean runmaking in the past five years is a drastic move.

Jamaican Gayle is 31, Sarwan is 30 and fellow Guyanese Chanderpaul is 36.

Ernest Hilaire, chief executive of the board, said the aim was to bring in players who could improve on the disappointing World Cup campaign which ended with a quarter-final defeat to Pakistan.

“With a view to the stated goal of winning the 2015 Cricket World Cup, in the 2011-2012 phase the Selection Committee will expose players to international cricket who could potentially play a vital role in the 2015 Cricket World Cup campaign,” Hilaire said.

Antiguan leg spinner Anthony Martin is the only uncapped player named in the squad for the opening two games against the touring Pakistanis in St Lucia.

Marlon Samuels, the 30-year-old Jamaican batsman, is named in the ODI squad for the first time since serving a two-year international ban for passing on team information to an Indian bookmaker.

Among the players who will have a chance against the Pakistanis are Barbadian batsman Kirk Edwards, Guyanese leg spinner Devendra Bishoo and Trinidad opening batsman Lendl Simmons.

Trinidad all-rounder Dwayne Bravo has recovered from the knee injury he sustained in the recent World Cup and returns to the squad — he will be vice-captain to skipper Darren Sammy.

After a Twenty20 game on April 21, the opening ODI games in St.Lucia take place on April 23 and 25 before two games in Barbados and the final ODI encounter in Guyana.

The teams will also face off in two test matches in May in Guyana and St.Kitts before West Indies host world champions India for a single Twenty20, five ODIs, and a three test series.

West Indies squad for first two ODI games v Pakistan:
Darren Sammy (captain), Dwayne Bravo (vice-captain),Devendra Bishoo, Darren Bravo, Kirk Edwards, Anthony Martin, Ravi Rampaul, Kemar Roach, Andre Russell, Marlon Samuels, Lendl Simmons, Devon Smith, Devon Thomas.