King: Time to rally ‘round Shiv

Already upset by speculation about disunity in the camp under his leadership, Shivnarine Chanderpaul seemed almost desperate for a solution to the defeatist culture that was again evident in the capitulation that resulted in a 379-run humiliation inside four days at the Gabba.

At the same venue where Kim Hughes gave up the Australian captaincy in tears following another drubbing by an overpowering West Indies side 21 years ago, Chanderpaul was at a loss on Sunday to explain how all of the team’s pre-match optimism came to almost nothing.

As the squad arrived in Melbourne yesterday for a three-day match against the Victorian Bushrangers, King stressed the need to rally round the captain.

"All around, we’ve just got to stay close and show the resolve that we know we’ve got," the coach stated, adding that the presence of former captain and fast bowler Courtney Walsh during the Brisbane Test was also helpful.

"It was good having him there. We got him involved with us while we were there, specifically with the bowlers, but also having a chat with Shivvy as well. Courtney’s a member of the Win World Cup committee back in the West Indies, so it’s a natural thing for him to be with us while he is over here."

That committee appointed with the specific purpose of preparing a team capable of winning the World Cup at home in 2007, includes a number of outstanding former players and one current star in Brian Lara.

Conceding that the gamble of resting fast bowlers Jermaine Lawson, Fidel Edwards and Corey Collymore before they played in the first Test had paid little dividends, King contended that it was a chance worth taking.

"I’ve got no regrets (about that decision). When you play a side like Australia, you’ve got to go in there full of confidence," he explained.

"There were some good signs leading into the Test match and I think this loss hurt because we had some high expectations of ourselves, because we thought we were going pretty well. In hindsight, the side that we played (Queensland Bulls) leading into the match was very different from the side we played at the Gabba (Australia)."

After amassing 612 in their only innings against the state side at Allan Border Field, the West Indies could only muster totals of 210 and 129 in the series opener, even though Australia’s champion bowlers Shane Warne and Glenn McGrath failed to take a wicket in the second innings.

Happy to have a three-day match before the Second Test next week in Hobart for the players to try to sort themselves out, the Australian-born coach noted that the mental approach to the game, more than technical deficiencies, needed to be urgently addressed. "A lot of the things are actually personal," he suggested.

"Application in the middle and concentration are what we need to keep working towards. The boys are certainly keen to show that they are better than they showed in that Test match." However one area where the problem definitely involves deficient techniques concerns the inability of the tail-enders to survive for any length of time. King acknowledges there is no quick-fix to this particular challenge. "Improving overnight in that area is not something that’s going to happen too easily," he admitted.

"We encourage everyone to work on their games. The bowlers have actually worked hard on their batting here (on this tour). I think in the past though, what you’ll find if you talk to any of our bowlers is that they don’t get enough opportunity to bat in practice back at home. For whatever reasons, they mainly go in the nets and bowl and bowl and bowl. We’re trying to turn that around and encourage them to bat and bat and bat, as well as bowl, bowl, bowl."

Essentially, the coach concluded, the only way to even start closing the gap with Australia is to work extremely hard.

"It’s volume, it’s practice, it’s all those things," King stressed.

"We’re not coming from a position where it’s first playing second (in the rankings). We’re eighth playing first, and we’ve just got to make sure that, if we want to make a mark on world cricket, we’ve got to be better than that (in the First Test), and that’s what these players have to be all about.

The three-day match against Victoria begins tomorrow night (Caribbean time) at the Junction Oval in the Melbourne suburb of St Kilda.