GEORGETOWN – Newly appointed chairman of selectors, Clive Lloyd, wants to see an improvement in batting from the West Indies team, and believes this can only be achieved by players bringing a more studied approach to the game.
The outstanding former West Indies captain said while there was an abundance of talent in the region, he was concerned by the lack of application and thought which often typified West Indies cricket.
“We need to be more consistent in our play. We have some good bowlers around the place, but our batting is the thing that has not been up to par,” the 69-year-old Guyanese said.
“But we have some good cricketers here and it is just a matter of getting people who want to bat for long periods. As I’ve said before, I want to see players bat ugly. There’s not every day you’re going to be able to drive it around, you’re going to have to battle your way out of situations.”
“We should not be bowled out in two sessions in any Test match. We should not be beaten in two-and-a-half days in any Test match. I think we’re much better than that. It’s the consistency and what we need to inject into our young players is that it’s a long game especially in the Test matches.”
Lloyd said emphasis needed to be placed on youth development and more importantly, imparting the right attributes so the senior team could begin to benefit.
“We have to think properly and if you notice, anytime there is a close game we get beaten, so our thinking has got to be much better,” Lloyd pointed out.
“We have to think a lot more of our cricket and I hope that can be injected into our playing and the young players that are coming through because these Under-19 guys will be the future of West Indies cricket and if they can inculcate the right sort of things where this game is concerned, we will have a very good future.
Lloyd acknowledged the West Indies have a number of terrific cricketers but many of them are lost at a certain stage of their careers.
“We want to harness that talent, keep them there, make sure that the HP (high performance) centres that we have around the place are teaching them the right things and whatever they have learnt from there, they can put it into play when they play for the West Indies.” (CMC)
