|
 |   |
|
EVENTS Fantasy Central Inside Game Multimedia Central Statitudes Your Turn Message Boards Email Newsletters Golf Guide Cities Work in Sports
CNNSI.com GROUP
COMMERCE |  |
New low West Indies cricket crashes vs. England
LEEDS, England (AP) -- No wonder Curtly Ambrose and Courtney Walsh want to retire. Once the juggernauts of world cricket, the West Indies have plummeted to a new low in international cricket and stand on the verge of losing a series to England for the first time in 31 years. England crushed them by an innings and 39 runs at Headingley on Friday for a two-day victory after bowling them out for only 61 in the second innings. Nasser Hussain's team, which itself has been in the cricket doldrums for more than a decade, exposed major weaknesses in the visitor's team. The present day West Indian team is now has been carried by just two bowlers -- Ambrose and Walsh -- and the batting has lacked the quality, depth and the consistency that had been the hallmark of the past West Indies team. Skipper Jimmy Adams, still in the infancy of test captaincy faces, has the major task to lift the team from disaster and unite it before leaving the shores of England. After Friday's two-day loss to England at Headingley, the quickest test match loss in for any team in 54 years, the West Indies has to win at The Oval to square the series and restore some pride. West Indies faces the toughest assignment of all after the current series. It takes on the unofficial test champion Australia in a five-match series in November. An Australian win in the first test at Brisbane will equal West Indies' record 11 consecutive wins under Clive Lloyd between 1983 and 1985. Adams knows his two veteran fast bowlers who have 878 wickets between them, have been badly let down. "The team on the whole by playing consistent cricket, a lot of their effort would be rewarded far more than being rewarded at this minute," he said. There is no one to talk Ambrose out of retirement at the end of the series and Walsh is not far behind him. One thing for sure, Walsh, who will be 38 soon, will not want to undertake a tough tour like Australia with Reon King, Nixon McLean, Franklyn Rose and Corey Collymore and without his fast bowling partner Ambrose. Adams is confident his team will rise to the challenge that is ahead of it in the last test of the series. "The state of the series will provide most of the motivation apart from echoing the fact that its going to be a do or die test [at The Oval] in terms of saving the series. "There isn't much more you can say to that regard. "In the broader sense the mere fact that were are in the position we're in now, I think will provide sufficient motivation." Adams was adamant the players haven't lost the pride. "I don't think so," he said. "For a lot of fellows they are finding they are in international cricket. Cricket at this level is different from cricket at any other level. I see it as part of a learning curve. "I don't think there is a lack of pride. They are very proud who they represent. Maybe in a few areas there is a lack of experience." Adams is only in his third series as captain and the first outside the West Indies. He had to lift a team that was in turmoil under a temperamental Brian Lara. Since taking over, Adams led the side to series wins over Zimbabwe and Pakistan at home and began the current series with a terrific win inside three days at Edgbaston by an innings. That win ended West Indies' 10-match losing streak in tests away from home and praise was showered on Adams' team. It was premature. The defeat at Lord's when it was bowled out for 54 started a lean spell for the visitors. The winners of the first two limited overs World Cup in 1975 and 1979, then managed just a solitary win in a triangular one-day series that was won by England. It lost the three games against Zimbabwe and failed to qualify for the Lord's final. Despite hitting West Indies' only century of the series in the drawn third test at Old Trafford, Lara's form has been a great concern to Adams. The batting had depended heavily on Lara, Shivnarine Chanderpaul and Adams and, when they haven't delivered, the West Indies have just folded. Lara was out for only four and two in the Headingley defeat while Chanderpaul has been sidelined with a torn ligament in his right arm and hasn't played since the second test at Lord's in June.
| ||||||||||||||||||||
