By ZAID MOHAMMED Sports Editor Tuesday, July 1 2008

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WEST Indies batting legend Sir Vivian Richards has questioned the commitment of the current crop of West Indies cricketers following their latest defeat against Australia on Sunday in Grenada.

The former swashbuckling batsman who is the most successful West Indies captain ever suggested that under-performing players must be weeded out if the regional team is to launch any rearguard action in the remaining matches in the Digicel ODI Series. Sir Viv was speaking exclusively to Newsday on Sunday in a telephone interview after the Third Digicel One-Day International at Queen’s Park in St George’s.

He said he was disappointed with the latest run of defeats against world champions Australia led by Ricky Ponting and is not hopeful that the WI turnaround would happen soon.

The now 56-year-old former devastating right-handed batsman knocked the inability of the West Indies, captained by Chris Gayle to play at a consistent level in order to successfully challenge the Aussies.

“It appears as though when we make a step forward we then take several backwards. Hardly is some progress made when we are back to square one,” said a disappointed Sir Viv on Sunday.

He lamented the fact that despite a fine opening partnership of 86 between Gayle (53) and countryman Xavier Marshall (35), the rest of the batting crumbled to be all out for 223, a total the Aussies knocked off for the loss of only three wickets with Shane Watson making a fine 126.

Sir Viv said he is not at all satisfied that some players are 100 percent committed to what is expected of them and the team selectors must make hard decisions if any improvement in the short run is to be effected.

He said Gayle led by example in setting the foundation for what should have been a challenging target but the other players are not pulling their weight.

“For success to be achieved there must be a collective effort. All the players must combine their skills and work together which we are not seeing at the moment,” said Sir Viv.

The Antiguan, nicknamed Smokin’ Joe during his heydey played 121 Tests for the West Indies scoring 8,540 runs with 24 hundreds and 45 half-centuries finishing with a career average of 50.23.

His record in One-Day Internationals is no less impressive, playing 187 matches hitting 6,721 runs with 11 centuries and 45 fifties for an average of 47.

Si Viv said it would not surprise him if the regional cricketers trounced 2-0 in the recent three-Test Digicel Test Series rebounded in the final two One-Day Internationals.

“It seems as though we play well when nothing is at stake but pride so we can expect some kind of fighting performance to restore some respectability,” said Sir Viv.

Richards who made his Test debut against India in 1974 in Bangalore and played his last Test against England at the Oval in London in 1991 is also the Johnnie Walker Responsible Drinking brand ambassador for the Know Your Boundaries Campaign.

He said that just as he advocates for Johnnie Walker, the West Indies players must express the same sort of responsibility as one does with regarding to drinking.

Johnnie Walker/Diageo chose Sir Viv to champion their cause and he has provided a perfect platform with West Indian cricket to emphasise the message which was breaking new ground in their approach to promote responsible drinking.