Chanders appeals for chance for players

"We can’t expect things to happen overnight, it’s going to take some time," said Chanderpaul on the eve of the second one-day international against New Zealand at the Queenstown Events Centre today (Tuesday evening Caribbean time).

"In the past, we would play a guy for a couple of games and if he didn’t do well we would send him back home.

We’re trying to build a team," he explained. "If you’re trying to build a team and keep doing these things to a guy - give him some experience, send him home, give him some experience, send him home - then we would never build a team."

The constant chopping and changing of the Caribbean side was exacerbated in 2005 by the prolonged sponsorship dispute which resulted in ten of the originally selected players for the tour of Sri Lanka opting out of that campaign.

Such has been the flow of players into and out of the team that head coach Bennett King and his all-Australian technical staff have worked with no fewer than 39 different players since taking up their jobs 16 months ago.

"If we keep bringing in young guys all the time and give them all the experience they need only to send them home, you are breaking that player," Chanderpaul stressed. "Keep the squad together, give them a fair run and try to build some confidence by doing these things. If we keep cutting and loading like we have been doing for a while, I don’t know what we’re going to build."

The captain suggested that the players on this tour should form the nucleus of the team to challenge for the World Cup on home soil next year. "If we keep these guys together, eventually they will gain a lot of knowledge and experience and be ready for the World Cup," he contended.

Before the fixture in Queenstown, the West Indies had won just two of 19 ODIs since their thrilling triumph in the Champions’ Trophy in England in September 2004. This abysmal run has encompassed the tri-nation VB Series in Australia (one win from six matches), home series against South Africa and Pakistan (eight consecutive defeats), a tri-nation series in Sri Lanka (one win from four matches) and the opening match of the current series which ended in an 81-run loss for the visitors at Westpac Stadium in Wellington last Saturday.

Faced with criticism of his exaggerated square-on batting stance in light of his unusual dismissal in that match, Chanderpaul was equally adamant that this awkward-looking style has worked for him.