Windies coach pleased with squad’s fitness

Addressing reporters on Monday at the start of a weeklong training camp in Bridgetown, King said several players were in much better shape than when the Australian coach took over the squad in November.

"A lot of the people have improved their fitness from when we started, which is very encouraging," King said during a break in the camp at the University of the West Indies’ Three Ws Oval.

He added that some players "still have a little way to go but some of them are at a level where they just need to maintain it."

The West Indies will tour Australia in October and November for three Test matches.

The tour follows the West Indies’ July-August tour of Sri Lanka, in which the below-strength side lost both test matches and failed to reach the finals of the triangular one-day series against Sri Lanka and India.

Top players Brian Lara, Ramnaresh Sarwan and Chris Gayle missed the tour because of a contract dispute between the West Indies Cricket Board and the West Indies Players’ Association.

Both sides have been negotiating to ensure that a full-strength team attends the Australia tour, but King insisted the issue hasn’t been a distraction.

"The coaching staff and the operations team haven’t been distracted," he said. "Our job is always to coach cricketers and to put the best team on the park that’s available." King said his goals for the series against the world’s top-ranked team were modest.

"If the boys show a committed and courageous performance trying to incorporate consistency in there as well, they are the things I want to see," King said.

The training camp will conclude with a four-day practice match, while a regional one-day tournament begins on Monday. Lara and Gayle couldn’t attend the training camp because of commitments with the Rest of the World team in the Johnnie Walker Super Series of matches in Australia.