Windies rallying round Shiv

"The guys have taken ownership of the team and have looked up to the captain to lead them and have asked him to be firm and strong," Hinds explained yesterday.

"He has asked for our support and we are giving him that to the best of our ability. That hasn’t changed and it will only improve over the years."

Chanderpaul’s leadership skills have come under the microscope in the aftermath of the 3-0 Test series loss in Australia last November, with Hinds offered in some quarters as a possible alternative.

Yet his inability to maintain a regular spot in the Test side is an obvious mitigating factor, a reality reflected on the current tour where the 28-year-old Jamaican has been chosen for the five-match one-day series but not the three Tests that follow in March.

"Things are looking up. I’ve been working hard on the rudiments of my own game," he contended.

"I’ve tried to make the most of what is available, taking into consideration that I haven’t played much international cricket recently, outside of the last Test in Australia. I’ve tried to prepare myself as best as possible so that when the opportunity comes around again, I’ll try to take it with both hands."

Most experts, including several former players, here in New Zealand have virtually written off the West Indies already, even as they prepare for the tour-opening Twenty20 fixture against the Black Caps tomorrow night (early tomorrow morning Caribbean time) at Eden Park.

It is a familiar situation that nevertheless irks Hinds and his teammates.

"We have to face the fact that we are not playing the best of cricket consistently, so we’ll have to accept that we are underdogs," he conceded.

"However, I do get tired of being the underdog, and that can only change by us taking ownership of the team and irrespective of what happens outside of our unit, we have to make sure we make the most of what we have, execute as efficiently as we can, play as a unit and keep the passion going so that we can always get a result out of the worst situation."

He suggested that the systems now in place under head coach Bennett King and his technical staff were making a significant difference to eventually turning around the West Indies’ fortunes.

"The new guys are coming in now in a better environment in relation to the work ethic and trying to manage the demands of international cricket on and off the field," Hinds stated.

"Dwayne Bravo and Denesh Ramdin are testimony to that. They are not so much learning on the job as myself, Chris Gayle and Ramnaresh Sarwan did over the last five years of trying to play international cricket but at the same time trying to develop our disciplines of the game which we didn’t get at a lower level."

"Unfortunately, that sort of situation continued for too long and contributed to the demise of West Indies cricket," he continued.

"We’re now looking for better things and looking to get players now who are properly prepared at First-Class level so they can find their footing in international cricket more easily."

Not for the first time, the West Indies will be required to show results to back up those optimistic pronouncements, beginning in an unusual, festive atmosphere under lights at Eden Park tomorrow.