SATURDAY 24 MAY – KINGSTON, JAMAICA – West Indies head coach
John Dyson says that the West Indies team is cultivating an
unrelenting fighting spirit which is beginning to pay
dividends.
"We go out there to fight no matter what the situation of
the match, when we went out to bowl this afternoon we said
this is what we need to do, this is how we're going to do it
and the two of them (Daren Powell and Fidel Edwards) did it
beautifully," Dyson told reporters at the end of the third
day of the First Digicel Test at Sabina Park where Australia
were left in tatters at 17 for 4 with Powell and Edwards
blasting away the top order.
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Daren Powell
celebrates his second wicket - BrooksLa Touche
Photography |
Daren Powell scatters
Michael Hussey's stumps - Brooks La Touche
Photography |
Dwayne Bravo and Daren
Powell celebrate the wicket of Ricky Ponting -
Brooks La Touche Photography |
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John Dyson - Coach |
Shivnarine Chanderpaul
hooks Brett Lee for four - Brooks La Touche
Photography |
Shivnarine Chanderpaul
celebrates his 18th Test century - Brooks La Touche
Photography |
The West Indies, led by Shivnarine Chanderpaul's resolute
118, made 312 in response to Australia's first innings total
of 431. Australia has an overall lead of 136 with six
wickets in hand.
Dyson was lavish in praise for his fast bowlers and
Chanderpaul's defiant century but said that he would also
like to see the younger batsmen capitalize on opportunities.
"One of our main batsmen (Chanderpaul) did that (played a
fine innings) in a beautiful fashion and I want some of the
less profile players to make contributions as well. Runako
(Morton) today got a terrific 67 it would have been just
fantastic if he had kept going and get a hundred and the
same with (Dwayne) Bravo, spectacular little innings to
watch but you just wish it went for another hour and a
half," Dyson said.
Dyson also revealed that he expected Chanderpaul, who was
floored by a Brett Lee bouncer when on 86, to take the field
on the fourth day after doing precautionary brain scans at
the end of the third day.
"He's (Chanderpaul) off getting a precautionary scan to make
sure there is no bad damage, from what the physio (CJ
Clarke) has said it was very good that he was wearing a
helmet, I expect him to take full part tomorrow, we're very
confident that the scan would show no major damage," Dyson
said.
Returning to the performance of his fast bowlers Dyson said
the team environment has improved and the players are now
more comfortable than under the tenure of previous coaches
and managers.
"There is some good team spirit, they are enjoying their
cricket more than they have for a long time and consequently
we're seeing them play some good stuff, it (getting rid of
the Australian top order) was really pleasing, we could have
folded but we discussed what we needed to do and the guys
just executed it perfectly," Dyson explained.
He said that the lower order falling apart cost the West
Indies in their run chase.
"We played a bad hour today and it cost us pretty badly but
that's cricket, if you play a bad hour you have to go and
make up for that somewhere," Dyson said.
He warned though that the team was not yet performing at its
optimum and that there is much room for improvement.
"I think we have some way to go before we can say we are
getting the most out of the team, I think there are some
areas we can definitely improve upon, what we want to see is
this team consistently playing good competitive cricket and
I think we're making good strides towards that," Dyson
counselled
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