WI hunt for spinners

No, he’s not looking for spinners to draft into the Caribbean side, but to give his batsmen practice ahead of the expected challenge from the wrist-spinning tandem of Shane Warne and Stuart MacGill.

"We’ll be practising pretty hard, hopefully in the next week or so, in getting some leg-spinners to bowl to us, so we’re looking forward to the challenge," said King, a native of Queensland, as the bulk of the West Indies 15-member squad arrived in a rainy Brisbane on Thursday.

The persistent showers broke a prolonged drought that has ravaged crops throughout Queensland and New South Wales, and while more rain was forecast for yesterday, conditions are expected to improve over the weekend.

By this time, the visitors should be into their first full training sessions in the lead-up to the three Tests to be played in Brisbane, Hobart, and Adelaide.

Their only warm-up fixture ahead of the first Test at The Gabba is a four-day match against Queensland, starting next Thursday at Allan Border Field.

Should the unsettled weather extend into the Test, beginning on November 3, it may conspire against MacGill being included in Australia’s final 11, despite his match haul of nine for 82 in the hosts’ 210-run hammering of the ICC World XI in the one-off "Super Test" that ended inside four days at the Sydney Cricket Ground last Monday.

Nevertheless, King is taking no chances, and hopes to give his top-order batsmen a lot of practice against wrist-spinners, assuming that there are net bowlers of that variety available.

On his second tour of his homeland in nine months, since taking over from former West Indies batsman Gus Logie, King has also had to cope with an unsettled squad as a result of the protracted sponsorship dispute between the West Indies Cricket Board and the Players’ Association.

"It’s interesting that in my short time in the job so far, I’ve had 39 players in the ten months that I’ve been there," he said.

"I’ve had three different sides in three different series," King said, although he remains hopeful that some of the youthful talents on show will develop into consistent performers.

"I think there are some players you’ll see who really do have some talent. Not a lot of them have been in the (international) arena that long."

With West Indies captain Shivnarine Chanderpaul, his deputy Ramnaresh Sarwan, batting kingpin Brian Lara, and left-handed opener Chris Gayle expected to form the backbone of the batting line-up, it is the crop of fast bowlers unfamiliar to conditions Down Under whom King is hoping will pull a few surprises on Ricky Ponting’s side.

None of the five fast to medium-fast bowlers — Jermaine Lawson, Darren Powell, Corey Collymore, Tino Best, and Fidel Edwards — has played Test cricket in Australia.

Lawson however, will be instantly remembered for his hat-trick in the penultimate Test at Bridgetown, and devastating spell of seven for 78 in the first innings of the final Test against Steve Waugh’s Australians at St John’s two years ago in the Caribbean.

His action was reported following those performances by standing umpires David Shepherd and Srinivasa Venkataraghavan, and the Jamaican was reported again in the aftermath of the tour of Sri Lanka that ended in mid-August.

Having been cleared to continue bowling by the International Cricket Council, his presence will certainly create a stir, especially if he gets among the wickets again.