The Hindu : Sport / Cricket : King confident ahead of tour

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Oct 19, 2005

Sport

Sport - Cricket

King confident ahead of tour

BRIDGETOWN: : West Indies coach Bennett King expressed confidence on Monday ahead of his squad's tour of Australia, but said beating the world's No. 1 team on its home turf won't be easy.

``The Australians are very good and we are going into their den. We just have to go there and tame them,'' King said before most of the team departed Barbados for Sydney. ``I believe everyone is comfortable.''

West Indies hasn't won a Test series of any significance since India visited the Caribbean three years ago, and it hasn't beaten Australia in a series since 1993.

The Australians, coming off a sweep of a World XI including West Indies stars Brian Lara and Chris Gayle, have held the Frank Worrell Trophy for 10 years.

West Indies will play Queensland in a four-day match starting on October 27, followed by three Tests in November at Brisbane, Hobart and Adelaide.

The team will have its full complement of players despite the bitter ongoing contracts dispute between the West Indies Cricket Board and Players' Association, which led to a second-string side touring Sri Lanka in July.

Australia-born King said the team has put the dispute behind it and was looking forward to competing.

``The camaraderie is there and we just have to keep moving forward and playing together as a unit,'' he said.

Sticky situation

Meanwhile, Stuart MacGill's nine-wicket haul in the 210-run Test triumph against the World XI has Australia's cricket selectors in a quandary.

After years of dominating international cricket on the backs of a three-pronged seam attack and one spin bowler, the Ashes loss combined with MacGill's raw figures and the emergence of all-rounder Shane Watson is forcing a rethink of the combination.

Leg-spinner MacGill has been a bit-player for Australia throughout his career, taking a back seat to Shane Warne.

MacGill is usually thrust into a Test line-up for at least one match per season, at the spin-friendly Sydney Cricket Ground.

West Indies squad: Shivnarine Chanderpaul (captain), Tino Best, Dwayne Bravo, Corey Collymore, Fidel Edwards, Chris Gayle, Wavell Hinds, Brian Lara, Jermaine Lawson, Daren Powell, Denesh Ramdin, Marlon Samuels, Ramnaresh Sarwan, Devon Smith, Dwayne Smith.

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