We are missing a Larry Gomes- Clive Lloyd
Photo - Collected
|| CF Correspondent ||
Former West Indian skipper Clive Lloyd believes Jason Holders side need to get back into business when they take on Bangladesh on Monday to get their Cricket World Cup campaign back on track.
West Indies and Bangladesh accumulated three points from four matches in the 10-team round-robin group phase and as a result this game turned out to be a must-win game for both sides.
If West Indies want to reach the semi-final than they have to displace one of New Zealand, champions Australia, India and England and according to Lloyd, the captain of the West Indies side that won the first two World Cups in 1975 and 1979, said they would have to get things going from now onwards.
‘’It’s now or never [for us]" Lloyd was quoted in the ICC column on Sunday.
"It's a must-win clash for both sides - Bangladesh will be feeling very good about their game and it's up to the West Indies to stand up and be counted."
‘’We need to win nearly every group game from here on in if they are to have a chance of making the semi-finals" he said adding that their batting performance against England were they were dismissed for just 212 is their worst batting display of the tournament so far.
They slumped to 55 for three before Nicholas Pooran, who made 63, and Shimron Hetmyer (39) shared a fourth-wicket stand of 89.
"Pooran in particular has really impressed me so far this tournament, but we shouldn't be asking two young guys to do it all," Lloyd said.
"The rest of the batsmen left them high and dry. Maybe we are missing someone who can stick around,’’ he said.
‘’In my day we had Larry Gomes who could play that role."
As for the West Indies' attack, Lloyd said they could not repeatedly rely solely on short-pitched fast bowling to do the trick as they had done in skittling Pakistan out for 105 in an opening win.
"They can't go into every game thinking they are just going to blast teams out like they did Pakistan. They need to be able to read the conditions, adapt to their opponents and the pitches put in front of them,’’ he said.
And Lloyd warned life was not about to get any easier against a Bangladesh side who beat the West Indies twice in a recent tri-series.
