The call list of West Indies coach Ottis Gibson is increasing every day.A day after expressing the need for a full-time batting coach, Gibson said a sports psychologist might be needed to toughen the mindset of the current crop of Caribbean cricketers.“The guys are working hard at the skills of cricket, but cricket also requires some thought and a lot of common sense and that’s where, as a batting group, we are falling down at the moment,” he said after Friday’s 67-run loss at Windsor Park gave South Africa a series-winning 3-0 lead.Mental toughness“We spent some time during the T20 World Cup with a sports psychologist-type person dealing with mental toughness and mental strength, which is what we are lacking at the moment, and I think that is something that we need to perhaps, revisit again,” Gibson suggested.“We need to spend some time talking – not so much about the skills of cricket because we all have the skills – but applying the skills to help the team win is where we are falling down at the moment,” he added.The coach’s comments came after a below-par batting display resulted in West Indies crumbling for a meagre 157, in pursuit of South Africa’s modest total of 224.Gibson noted that captain Chris Gayle, Shivnarine Chanderpaul, and all-rounder Dwayne Bravo “are good international players” and should be able to bring about a change in the team’s fortunes.“As a coach, you can do as much talking as you want, give throw-downs in practice – and we had a lot of good practice over the last two days,” he said.He also noted that West Indies’ cricket meant a lot to all West Indians.“West Indies cricket is [in] a pretty state at the moment, and whether you come from Dominica, Trinidad, St Lucia, Barbados – wherever you come from – it means a lot . . . and hopefully, whoever comes on to the West Indies team could perform better than we are performing at the moment,” he said.DisappointingGibson said Friday’s loss was very disappointing for the fans in Dominica, as it was only the third ODI to have been staged in the country and the first time a full-strength West Indies side took the field here after a second-string side lost both matches to Bangladesh last July.“They came out and paid their hard-earned money to have to sit and watch us perform so poorly. I can only say sorry to those people, but Sunday [today] we will still need the support of the fans,” he said. (EZS)
