Fed-up Vincies

Vincentians appear to be disillusioned with the recent performances of the beleaguered West Indies team.

And a lot of them might stay away from the Arnos Vale Playing Field even though a public holiday has been declared for today's final match of the Cable & Wireless One-Day International series between West Indies and South Africa.

The locals seem to be turned off by the lacklustre showing of the West Indies in what has been a vastly one-sided series since the opening match which Carl Hooper's men won off the final ball.

Depressing results have followed, from St John's to St George's to Bridgetown to Port-of-Spain. West Indies were not even competitive in a string of five successive defeats.

The picturesque ground here, sandwiched between the ET Joshua Airport and the Caribbean Sea, can accommodate about 10 000 spectators when it is jam-packed,but by yesterday afternoon, less than half of that number of tickets had been sold.

West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) marketing manager for events, promotions and information technology Darren Millien, reported that around 4 700 tickets were pre-sold.

We would have hoped to have been almost sold out, as it was last year, but given the state of the series and the on-field performances, we can just hope that people will still come out and support the team, Millien said.

This is the time when we need support, not for people to jump off the bandwagon. At the end of the day, we hope that we will have a sell-out crowd.

There was very little activity at the ticket office here yesterday and at no stage during the day were there the lengthy queues that had been commonplace in recent years.

Millien is certain that things would have been reversed if the South Africans were not dominating the West Indies in the manner they have done.

If it were the other way around, I can guarantee you that we would have been sold out by now, he said.

Last year, the day before the game, we had pre-sold about 95 per cent of the ground.

Not only Vincentians are disenchanted by the West Indies' display.

A regional airline, which up until two weeks ago, reported that its early morning flight yesterday from Barbados into St. Vincent was fully booked, left the Grantley Adams International Airport with 15 empty seats.

"We recognise that on-field performance would have an impact, but there are other variables that would probably have been factored into to get the kind of results that we did at the gates, Millien said.

Even with modest ticket sales for this match, the marketing executive said there was no consideration to reduce admission prices.

It has not been brought to our attention yet by the local board. If it were to come to us, we would consider it, but at this juncture I don't know if it's a feasible option, Millien added.

What happens on the field is merely for the records, but surely the West Indies would not want a carbon-copy of their 1999 series in South Africa when they lost the One-Day International series by the huge margin of 6-1.

Despite defeat after defeat, West Indies captain Carl Hooper believes his side should be sufficiently motivated to give a good account.

We've still got to try. If we can finish on a winning note, it would be good for us, Hooper said.

It's still a One-Day international. That should be motivation enough. If there are any guys in the team lacking motivation, there are heaps of guys outside that would give an arm and a leg to play.

Hooper would also have told his players that the West Indies enjoy a proud record at the Arnos Vale Playing Field. In their 10 previous encounters on the ground, they have lost only once.

South Africa will be eager to return home after what for them was a longer tour than normal.

But they have unfinished business.

We just want to make sure that we focus for the game and that our minds are not yet on the plane, said captain Shaun Pollock.

If we do that, the rest of it should all fall into place.

It's been a long tour, but the guys are looking to end off the tour on a winning note. We're looking to come out here and put in one more quality performance before we go home.

The visitors have a few injury concerns. Pollock has two stitches between his left thumb and index finger, fast bowler Andre Nel is carrying a hamstring injury he sustained on debut on Saturday and batsman Boeta Dippenaar is also doubtful.