BY ANDY THORNHILL

WELCOME JOHN DYSON.

And what will he be able to achieve that a few before him haven't in the past decade or so?

For the sake of West Indies cricket I hope a lot, but I see his task being just as uphill as the others that preceded him, including fellow Australians Bennett King and David Moore who temporarily held the job.

A coach is as good as his charges permit him to be. I mean that any coach could very well inherit a group that has plenty of natural talent and great skills, but if they don't apply it and be professional on a sustained basis, they are not likely to get the success they are capable of.

The coach inevitably takes the blame and would eventually lose his job.

Perhaps the most pertinent examples would be the team that became world champions for over 15 years stretching from the mid-70s to the mid-90s. If you've ever heard them talk they always point to the difference the Kerry Packer series made to their lives as professional players.

They enhanced every aspect of their game to the point where they became virtually unbeatable. A daily diet of county cricket for most of them also played its part in turning them from above-average cricketers to great ones.

Lots of talent

Can you imagine any coach surrounded with talent like Sir Viv Richards, Gordon Greenidge, Desmond Haynes, Malcolm Marshall, Joel Garner, Clive Lloyd to mention a few and not managing to be competitive, far less world champions?

In essence, coaches and players have to form a true partnership that should and must aim to reach the highest peak of their discipline. Mutual respect is the key as they can only go forward having recognised that one's success depends on the other.

It's against this background, in my opinion, that Dyson takes up his new post. He will be handling a team that has some talented players, but who haven't been able to consistently deliver the goods.

Those who have been at the helm before have never faulted their ability, but moreso their work ethic, attitude and commitment. It didn't matter if it was Sir Viv, the late Malcolm Marshall, Rohan Kanhai or even Bennett King.

Therefore, turning the players' mental attitude around seems to be the major obstacle for Dyson. Once he can succeed in this department he can score big. And, honestly, you would have to believe that the West Indies Cricket Board thinks he has the capability, otherwise they would have gone for homegrown talent.

Admittedly, it might have been either another Australian Dav Whatmore or Barbadian Otis Gibson, but both have opted for other assignments. By process of elimination it left the likes of Phil Simmons, Eldine Baptiste, David Williams and Henderson Springer on the list.

Clearly, they didn't impress the board they could do the job at the moment so in came Dyson, who, as far as the public knows, had no previous links with the post until it was announced over the weekend that he was the man.

Claim to fame

Dyson's main claim to fame as a coach is that he coached Sri Lanka for two years with moderate results and didn't have his contract renewed in April 2005. There is nothing flattering about this record in my opinion, but there might have been the feeling that he will still get more respect than the West Indians who showed an interest in the job.

Dyson will have his work cut out, but he can make his task easier by winning the confidence of the players. This is not easy. West Indians do not like enforcers, we prefer to be part of the decision-making process rather than having someone impose their will on us.

It's the culture factor which Dyson will have to adapt to otherwise he is not going to be able to motivate his charges to do any better than those who preceded him.

Of course, he can get first hand information from King and Moore, but it's his own diplomatic skills that will be important in his bid to turn around the fortunes of a once great cricketing nation.

Depending on results, his welcome can turn into a short or extended stay.