BIRMINGHAM, England, CMC – West Indies players hope to bring a wretched tour of England to a successful close and are aiming for a victory in the third and final One-day International today.
West Indies trail 0-1 in the series, after the opener at Leeds was washed out and they lost the second ODI on Sunday at Bristol by six wickets with 84 balls to spare.
This followed a 0-2 defeat in the preceding Test series, when they plunged to heavy defeats by 10 wickets at Lord’s, and an innings and 83 runs at Chester-le-Street.
Against this backdrop, no wonder West Indies coach John Dyson wants to leave the past behind him and concentrate on getting a victory to save face.
“It’s a case of wanting to prove we can play some good cricket,” he said. “Let’s get on with it and do the best we can.
“We have been disappointed with the results. They have shown that under conditions which are different to the Caribbean, the guys and their techniques struggle a little bit. “We can play better cricket and we would like to prove this.”
Whether it was their reluctance to make the tour or not, West Indies have been as blatantly woeful as they have ever been, and this follows agitation by the players’ association for a higher remuneration than regular.
Dyson however, has identified the reason why he believes West Indies have been unable to cope with their well-drilled, if not spectacular opponents.
“The statistics say this has been a poor tour, and when you have encountered conditions you are just not used to, you definitely learn a lot,” said Dyson.
“Given the sort of pitches they play on day in and day out in the Caribbean, when you move to a country that differs from that, I always feel the team could struggle.”
Dyson added: “We have encountered pitches here which are very different to the West Indies.
“We should produce good cricket pitches, not just dead, flat nothings.
“So that in a Test match, for example, you expect for the first day, particularly the first session, if you’re prepared to run in and bowl fast you are going to get a bit of help.”
Dyson admitted that the pitches which West Indies encountered against England in the Caribbean earlier this year gave bowlers little or no help at all which does not help the players.
“That’s great if you’re a batsman, but not good for the all-round development of players and particularly not good when you move overseas and encounter pitches that are not like this,” he said.
Gayle hinted at changes for the final ODI, but there has been such terminal failure, it is hard to determine where they should be made.
Meanwhile, the England dressing room is a comfortable place to be at the moment.
“There’s a really good feeling in the camp, and each time you win there’s more depth to that feeling,” said England captain Andrew Strauss.
“It was very good performance, we took early wickets, we kept the pressure on, and we made it hard work for them, both with the way we bowled and fielded.”
Strauss continued: “We’re delighted with the performance, and it adds to that momentum we got in the Test matches, and we really want to win again, and build even more momentum.”
Squads: ENGLAND: Andrew Strauss (capt), Ravi Bopara, Ian Bell, Owais Shah, Paul Collingwood, Eoin Morgan, Matt Prior, Dimitri Mascarenhas, Tim Bresnan, Stuart Broad, Graeme Swann, Ryan Sidebottom, James Anderson
WEST INDIES: Chris Gayle (capt), Denesh Ramdin (vice-capt), Lionel Baker, Sulieman Benn, Dwayne Bravo, Shivnarine Chanderpaul, Fidel Edwards, Runako Morton, Kieron Pollard, Ravi Rampaul, Darren Sammy, Ramnaresh Sarwan, Lendl Simmons, Jerome Taylor
