Holding: Defeats show lack of spirit

The West Indies dismal recent record overseas is an apt reflection on the lack of team spirit that exists at present, according to former West Indies fast bowler Michael Holding.

There is simply not as much camaraderie as there should be, Holding writes in his column in the latest edition of the Red Stripe Caribbean Cricket Quarterly. Without that, there is no reversal, no turnaround when things start to go badly on tour.

He notes that team spirit is more important on tour than at home where crowds and a familiar environment make it very comfortable, both physically and mentally.

Away from home, often in countries with a different culture and hostile crowds, and often at such emotional times as Christmas, as was the Vase in South Africa and New Zealand, you have only your teammates and the team management to depend on, he states.

That is when team spirit comes to the fore, when players rally around each other and help each other in times of adversity.

Pointing out that all sporting teams are primarily judged on their performances away from home, Holding says this is what made the West Indies of Clive Lloyd so great.

It won everywhere, whatever the conditions, whatever the hardships.

But Holding lays some of the blame on Lloyd as the present manager.

Management must take much of the responsibility in this area and, in his tenure as manager, Clive Lloyd was not as forceful as he should have been, he writes. One of the problems is the lack of discipline - cricket discipline and discipline in general. Clive might have done a lot more to bring that under control.

Holding comments that instilling the need for discipline and for a proper attitude should be the main priority for Lloyds successor as manager, adding that the coach also has a role to play in this exercise.

He chides the current players for not understanding and accepting what it means to lose as a West Indies cricket team.

I dont think they are proud enough as international sportsmen to really look at themselves when they lose and to correct whatever is going wrong, he adds.

He supports the retention of Sir Viv Richards as coach and hoped that he could change the present attitude.

I have certainly known no one more passionate about West Indies cricket, Holding writes.