WI coach King targets fielding

BRIDGETOWN: New West Indies cricket coach Bennett King says he wants his side to be the best fielding side in the world. “They have what it takes. This side needs to be the best fielding side in the world. They are the best athletes I have seen that play cricket,” he said. “From my point of view, fielding is a learnt skill — something we can control,” he said at Kensington Oval. However, he added that the players were not up to the mark at present. “I have a lot of work to do. I expect clean pick-ups in the outfield and I expect us to take every catch, so we still have a lot of hard work to do.” The fielding in the two matches at Kensington Oval, on Tuesday and Wednesday, was hot and cold.

There were several dropped catches and some shoddy work in the outfield. There were also some moments of brilliance, but King said he wanted consistency. Speaking on the Best And Mason programme on CBC Radio on Tuesday night, King acknowledged the huge expectations of the fans around the region but said he felt no pressure in his new job. “I fully understand I will have no honeymoon period,” the Australian said. “I don’t feel pressured. The things I know about myself are that I’m well planned; I’m always well prepared. I work very hard and I have good methodology for teaching cricket.” “If you start listening to the fans too long, sooner or later you are going to be sitting with them.” King, the first foreigner to be in charge of the West Indies team, took up his three-year contract two weeks ago.

He has been working with a 25-member squad in a camp preparing for the three-nation VB Series one-day tournament in Australia in January. Pakistan are the other team. King’s players will face hosts Australia, the world champions and the undisputed No 1 team in both forms of the game, and No 4 Pakistan. It will be the West Indies’ first tournament since they won the prestigious ICC Champions Trophy in England in September. King, who turns 40 on December 19, said that winning a trophy in Australia would not be the only way to produce a successful tour. “Certainly from my point of view, I’ll be looking at smaller things rather than outcomes, which a lot of the public tends to do and it’s their right because they want to see their country win,” the former Australian Academy coach said. “But I’m looking at small steps rather than large steps because I don’t want to miss any steps in between.”