West Indies coach Bennett KIng (left) and Ramnaresh Sarwan - DELLMAR
BRISBANE, AUSTRALIA, CMC
WHETHER IT IS the reassurance of being in very familiar surroundings or frustration that improvements are not being made as quickly, as he had hoped, Bennett King seems to be in a no-nonsense mood ahead of the West Indies' three-Test series against Australia.
The decision by the tourists' head coach to banish a dawdling Tino Best to the dressing room during Tuesday's training session at Allan Border Field reflects a degree of intolerance and assertiveness from the hard-nosed Queenslander that suggests he fully intends to enforce the powers given to him when hired by the West Indies Cricket Board a year ago.
"I want all players to be enthusiastic and focussed on training," said King in explaining his decision to penalise the diminutive Barbadian fast bowler.
"Discipline is a big thing for us."
From almost the first time he took charge of the West Indies squad at a training camp in Barbados last November, the former head of the Australian Cricket Academy has been ruffling the feathers of players accustomed to strolling around like a flock of male models, although their results on the field hardly merited such haughty posturing.
Bemused players first paused in disbelief and then slowly, reluctantly responded to King's orders that they put the covers on the pitch themselves at the Three Ws Oval at the University of the West Indies Cave Hill Campus in Barbados when light rain halted a training session then.
It was an early sign that the Australian had every intention of asserting his authority over temperamental talents who had grown accustomed to ignoring the urgings of previous coaches.
None of the seven previous West Indies coaches, all former Test players and some living legends of the game, were ever given the power that King now holds.
BITTERSWEET
In the face of a team wracked by indiscipline and internal strife, the likes of Rohan Kanhai, Andy Roberts, Clive Lloyd, Malcolm Marshall, Vivian Richards, Roger Harper, and Gus Logie were reduced to the role of glorified physical education instructors.
All were left frustrated by the experience - Marshall even lamenting the state of the team on his death-bed before he succumbed to colon cancer almost six years ago-although Logie at least had the satisfaction of being in charge when the Champions' Trophy was lifted in dramatic style in September of last year at The Oval in London.
Yet even that was a bittersweet moment for it had already been determined that he would be replaced by King.
That the WICB never saw it fit to give any of the previous seven the authority necessary to be effective in the job will remain another sad indictment on their management of the game.
That those powers were vested in the first foreigner - and a white man at that - to get the job inevitably sparked comments around the region about a return to colonialism.
But to his credit, King has never let himself be bogged down by any of those debates and has simply got on with the job, even if the task has been rendered almost impossible by the protracted sponsorship dispute that short-circuited any effort to develop a consistent, cohesive plan to take the team forward.
On the West Indies squad's arrival in Brisbane last Thursday, King noted that he has had to work with 39 players in just three series in 10 months.
Yet even with a severely depleted squad in Sri Lanka, the Australian was heartened by a crop of players who caught and fielded better than any of the established teams had done in the previous five years.
Despite just one limited-overs win to show for their efforts, it was obvious that the foreign coach's punishing work ethic was reaping rewards.
Now the rift has been healed, at least temporarily, and the best players are back.
All eyes will be on Allan Border Field, where King played rugby league for a local team and where the West Indies open their tour against Queensland today, to see if the lengthy work-in-progress continues or if it will be another frustrating case of starting all over again.
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