Interview with Sir Clive Lloyd

Sir Clive Lloyd

What are your memories of the 1979 world cup?

I can’t remember a lot of it really but I know that we were the best team in the world at the time. I remember the final against England very well, the innings of Collis King especially; he got 86 in 66 balls. Collis and Viv Richards both batting extremely well and gave us the impetus we needed to go on and win.

What are your thoughts on modern One Day cricket?

We didn’t have the power plays and the fielding circle for starters, the rules are a little different for sure. I think it’s all for the better though, in my time you could make a good score and then just site back and put men on the boundary. The fielding now is terrific , Australia have really taken that side of the game forward through sliding and picking up and throwing, it’s very exciting to watch.

Can the West Indies win the World Cup?

I think we have a very good chance; we’ve got to the finals of all the tournaments we have played in recently. In the last couple of months we have really been playing well. We have some very good young cricketers, so if we play to the best of our ability then we have a real chance.

Who do you think will make the Semi-Finals?

That is a difficult one. Australia are favourites, I suppose, but there are a lot of good teams out there. Sri Lanka, NZ, England could come into their own by then. Pakistan have a pretty good side, there are a lot of teams who have a good chance of getting into the semi-finals. Let’s hope that the West Indies will be one of the teams in the finals.

What do you think will be the legacy of the World Cup for the Caribbean?

We were the winners of the first World Cup so I think the West Indies should have hosted it already. I think it will be the best world cup ever, that will hopefully be the main legacy from this world cup. The best thing about this World Cup is that there are no Day-Night games; the weather in the Caribbean is perfect to bat in so games should be exciting to watch. I think the legacy will also be the grounds and stadiums that have been built and the wonderful time that the spectators are going to have.

How has the recent West Indies tour of India gone in your opinion?

Well we could have won more of the games; actually I think we could have won all of the first 3 games. We hadn’t played cricket for a whole before going out to India but it has given us a good run into the World Cup.

From the news wires....

Paul Kelso from the Gaurdian mentioned Cricket World in his weekly blog site titled the 'Digger'. Published; 25th January 2007.

"Broad brushed aside
The outspoken match referee Chris Broad has been gagged by the International Cricket Council after he used his column for the Cricket World website to explain his decision to ban South Africa's Herschelle Gibbs for two matches after he racially abused Pakistani supporters. The former England opener has contributed to Cricket World for three months with the knowledge of the ICC, but his views on Gibbs' outburst at Centurion earlier this month - the opener called Pakistani spectators "animals" - were too much for the ICC. Broad's gag comes as ICC chief executives meet to discuss the role of match referees after last summer's abandoned Test at The Oval. It is likely they will enhance the power of referees, and undermine that of umpires, by giving them the final decision on whether matches should be abandoned."

Sri Lanka in a Spin

England will tour Sri Lanka in November and December 2007/8. Sri Lanka cricket and the tourist board are looking forward to this as a significant period in their rehabilitation back to a popular tourist destination.

The rebuilding of Galle Cricket Ground, which was so badly hit by the Tsunami in 2004, has hit a few stumbling blocks. Due to the protected areas around the ground it has proved tough for certain issues to be resolved without the protected areas being affected. But this is a long term process.

It is fortunate then that Australia are not touring Sri Lanka any time soon considering that the $50,000 that Shane Warne promised to donate to the rebuilding of the ground has yet to materialize, some three years on. It appears that their fund raising team only mustered $5000, which they decided to keep. This was to meet the costs of putting the fundraising team together in the first place!

Let us hope that the return of the England team to Sri Lanka at the end of this year will be honoured. With fixtures yet to be confirmed and Sri Lanka struggling to entice tourist due to the Tamil Tigers it is a tour that is desperately needed.

Are you only as good as your last game?

As the Ashes move on to the short form of the game and South Africa clinch a great series win against India cricket boards seem in the impossible position of deciding how to get the best out of their more senior players in a packed schedule.

The England team have been roundly criticised for a lack of consistency but the majority are young and part of building process. However, the Indian management have started to question their big name players who simply are not doing the business. We saw Damien Martyn, after the 3rd Ashes test, take the decision to retire. Martyn was lauded for taking this step and it begs the question of whether senior players are given too much time to find lost form and make the contributions that they did in the past.

England’s central contracts are a prime example of this current situation. How do you get the best results from your senior players? Do you contract your players for the year giving them the peace of mind and security to get on with their game? Or do you rely on the desire and determination of those players to want to succeed in a more cut throat set up. It certainly can be argued that the more senior England players like Harmison and Trescothic have not benefited from the central contract system.

Certainly the likes of Sri Lanka have made interesting moves in this department. The re-call of veteran batsman Sanath Jayasuriya has proved a success, but he was scoring domestic runs. There will be fans of Surrey who would suggest that England could well have done with Mark Ramprakash this summer as he finished the domestic season with an average of over 100.

How many games should those big name players be given in order to produce runs, wickets or stumpings? Has it become more important to have well known players on the team sheet rather than players in form?