da bwin： Roger Harper yesterday chided observers who described the West Indies’pre-tour camp as an army-type exercise which was not suited forcricketers
Haydn Gill22-Aug-2001Roger Harper yesterday chided observers who described the West Indies’pre-tour camp as an army-type exercise which was not suited forcricketers.The West Indies coach, to the contrary, believed the two-week camp inTrinidad served its purpose in preparing the team for tours ofZimbabwe and Kenya.A lot of things have been said about the camp and wrongly so. A lot ofpeople from the Press have made some ill-advised and unresearchedstatements, he said on his return to the Caribbean yesterday after asuccessful tour.The West Indies coach lauded the effort of team sports therapistRonald Rogers and two physical training instructors from the Trinidadand Tobago Defence Force for their input at the camp.But he was critical of those who made negative comments about theexercise.I read things in the Press about an army-style camp. I have never beento an army camp and I don’t know what it’s like, Harper said.I doubt whether the people who made those comments saw any details ofthe programme of the camp.He added that Rogers’ assistants had previously worked with otherinternational sports teams.Certainly they are not army drill sergeants. The programmes they ran,as designed by Ronald, were specifically geared to getting our team inthe best physical shape and mental condition as well, Harper said.Judging from the results, obviously they have to be given some sort ofcredit.Harper was speaking to reporters during a welcome reception for theteam, hosted by British Airways in the Club Caribbean Lounge at theGrantley Adams International Airport.The reception was held following the success by the West Indies teamwhich returned from an overseas tour with positive results for thefirst time in six years.Carl Hooper’s men won the Coca-Cola Cup in a three-way limited-oversseries that also involved Zimbabwe and India, and followed up with a1-0 series victory in a two-Test series against Zimbabwe.On leaving Zimbabwe, the West Indies moved over to Kenya where theyeasily defeated the hosts in three One-Day Internationals.By no means have we arrived, Harper said, with the knowledge thatZimbabwe and Kenya are two of the weaker teams in internationalcricket.This is a process of development, a process of growing and we’ve shownthat we are learning.He said the success in Zimbabwe was significant because India had onlyrecently stopped the winning streak of mighty Australia but wereunable to defeat Zimbabwe in the preceding Test series.Winning in Zimbabwe was no mean feat. Defeating India in the (Coca-Cola) final was a significant achievement.We managed to overcome the adversity of losing a number of key playersto injury.The team stuck together well, fought very well and there was thedetermination and the will to win that process started way back in thecamp.The tour started with major injury worries for the West Indies whichresulted in champion batsman Brian Lara, leg-spinner DinanathRamnarine, and fast bowlers Cameron Cuffy, Mervyn Dillon and KerryJeremy having to return home early.If you look at the schedule of international cricket being playedaround the world, you will get injuries due to wear and tear, Harpersaid.What we have to try and do is to put together a process in theCaribbean of preparing our youngsters from early, making them fitterand stronger so that when they get to international level they arebetter prepared to take on the rigours of the sort of schedules wehave at the moment.The reception was attended by Barbados Cricket Association officials,including first vice-president David Holford, second vice-presidentOwen Estwick, board members Conde Riley and Bobby Goodman, consultantSelwyn Smith, as well as British Airways’ area commercial managerElvin Sealy.The West Indies’ party included Harper, Barbadians Courtney Browne,Corey Collymore and Pedro Collins, Guyanese Shivnarine Chanderpaul,Reon King, Ramnaresh Sarwan and Neil McGarrell and Trinidadian DaveMohammed.