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Home > Sports News > Cricket News > Article > World Cup 2019 Our players lack commitment says Sir Andy Roberts

World Cup 2019: Our players lack commitment, says Sir Andy Roberts

Updated on: 28 June,2019 06:06 AM IST  | 
Harit N Joshi | sports@mid-day.com

West Indies pace legend Sir Andy Roberts talks tough in Manchester

World Cup 2019: Our players lack commitment, says Sir Andy Roberts

West Indies players walk back dejected after their seven-wicket loss to Bangladesh in Taunton last week. Pic/Getty Images

Harit N JoshiManchester: The West Indies's good showing in their opening match against Pakistan created some excitement. But while they were looked upon with a lot of positivity, the four consecutive defeats before facing India yesterday left them with slim chances to make it to the semi-finals.


However, former West Indies pace great Sir Andy Roberts, 68, has no hopes. "Do they have a slim chance? The teams ahead of the West Indies are not just ahead, but far ahead. They had a chance if had they beaten New Zealand here [at Old Trafford] and then win all the games from thereon," Roberts told mid-day while watching WI fight it out against India here yesterday.


In a scathing attack on the West Indies team, Roberts said the players lack commitment. "I firmly believe that players should develop themselves. It takes a lot of hard work and commitment. I do not believe that a lot of our players are committed to hard work. Who is the best batsman in the world today? Virat Kohli. But he does not rest on his laurels of being the best batsman. He tries to improve every day by working hard. I don't see that [commitment] in West Indian batsmen," Roberts said.


Andy Roberts
Andy Roberts

The West Indies were billed as one of the dangerous teams for the sheer capability of some of their batsmen like Chris Gayle, Carlos Brathwaite and injured Andre Russell. That hasn't been the case so far with Gayle scoring 194 runs and Russell 36. Brathwaite had scores of 16 and 14 before smashing a whirlwind 101 against New Zealand here last Saturday.

'ODI is not about slogging'

"Big-hitters can only hit when the opportunity is given to them [by the bowlers]. One-day cricket is not about slogging, it is about scoring runs. Two twos, the odd boundary and singles will keep the scorecard ticking. The thing about batting in one-day cricket is rotation of strike and the West Indies haven't been doing that," said Roberts, who claimed 202 wickets in 47 Tests and 87 victims in 56 ODIs.

He felt West Indies lacked Plan B during most of their games. "We didn't bowl well at all against England. Against Australia, we bowled well in the first half, but allowed them to get back into the game [thanks to Nathan Coulter-Nile's 92 at No. 8]. That's the match we should have won. Against Bangladesh, oh… we were atrocious. The amount of short balls that kept going to the boundary was nonsense. We did not have a Plan B. When we go into one-day matches, we need to have at least three plans. They say you learn from mistakes. If they had bowled like the way they are bowling now [v India], they would have probably beaten Bangladesh," said Roberts.

Gayle should retire
The news of Gayle delaying his retirement plans was no joy to Roberts despite him appreciating what he has achieved. "I think we [WI cricket] need to take a serious look at youngsters and try to go along with them because we have to think about the future. Is Gayle a part of the future? I don't think so. He has played his part in West Indies and world cricket. But I think he should be going out now as he is still at the top of his game, instead of waiting. He has done a lot for cricket and I wish him the best, but I don't think we should be looking to play Gayle Test cricket at the moment," said Roberts.

Also read: India hammer West Indies, remain unbeaten in World Cup 2019

Gayle was dismissed for six by pacer Mohammed Shami, caught by Kedar Jadhav at mid-on.
Scores of 300-plus were expected at this World Cup, but it hasn't happened quite often. Roberts, however, felt that the rules are still heavily in favour of batsmen. "One of the things the ICC can do is to make the game evenly balanced. It is not at the moment. It is too much in favour of batsmen. Cricket is about batting and bowling. And when 90 per cent favours one part of the game, it is not right. You can make it 60:40 [in favour of batsmen], but not 90:10. At the moment it is 90:10," he signed off.

Also read: World Cup 2019: Furious fans take to Twitter after third umpire declares Rohit Sharma out

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