PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad, CMC – Former West Indies team manager, Omar Khan, has questioned the professionalism of the embattled Caribbean side, following their whitewash at the hands of England in recent One-Day International series.
After watching the Windies’ capitulation in the final ODI of the three-match series last Thursday in Barbados, Trinidadian Khan said it appeared the players were not taking the game seriously.
“It is really disheartening and disappointing to see the way the West Indies are playing at the moment,” Khan told the Guardian newspaper here.
“The way they went about their business and I say business because this is business, sport is serious business, I looked at the body language and they did not look like professionals.
“If you look at England team they came out there with a purpose and was professional, clinical. They (West Indies) looked more like models and not professionals.”
West Indies lost the opening two ODIs at the Vivian Richards Cricket Stadium in Antigua and were hoping to rescue some pride in the final game of the series, only to suffer a 186-run defeat – their heaviest loss ever to the English in a one-dayer.
Chasing a huge 328, West Indies narrowly avoided the embarrassment of their lowest ODI total at Kensington Oval when they were dismissed for 142.
Only Jonathan Carter with 46 showed any enterprise as the top-order collapsed to leave the Windies languishing on 45 for six at one stage.
Khan said the value of professionalism appeared to be lost on the team, with emphasis being seemingly placed on individual performances.
“Our players need to understand what is professionalism, what it means to represent the people of the region, what it takes to win, the value of working together and valuing one another,” he contended.
“While we may have some brilliant individual performances at times, they need to understand that individual performances alone will not bring the team success. Everyone has to be on the same page.”
He also argued that judging from the body language of the players, there were obviously in no frame of mind to compete against the England
“The body language they put out was not good at all against the English, it was as if they were defeated from the get go,” he pointed out.
“Someone needs to tell the players that body language represents 67 per cent of the communication that one sends and it is important to be positive.”
