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New coach to join team in South Africa

'Windies should be higher up on rankings table' - Dyson

Cricinfo staff

December 8, 2007

Shivnarine Chanderpaul scored three centuries and four half-centuries in three Tests against England this year © Getty Images

John Dyson, the new West Indies coach, has said he needs to sit down with the players and discuss what is going wrong with the side. Dyson will join the team for their tour of South Africa this month. He missed the Zimbabwe leg of the tour to finalise domestic matters in Australia.

"Over the last 10 years, by anyone's standards, the West Indies have been playing some pretty average cricket", Dyson told the Sydney Morning Herald. "When I was coach of Sri Lanka I followed their performances closely, and I felt it was a squad underachieving."

West Indies have just won the five-ODI series against Zimbabwe 3-1, with a match to go. But before that series the side has won and lost nine one-dayers each this year and it hasn't won a single Test out of the four it played against England.

"Certainly they should be higher up the ICC [rankings] table than they are now," Dyson said. "At the moment, you would have to say that there is only one player in that squad who is playing up to their potential, and that is Shivnarine Chanderpaul. With the other guys, you look at them and think, 'He's a better player than what he's showing on the park."

In the three Tests he played against England, Chanderpaul averaged 148.66 with two centuries and three half-centuries. He averaged 76 in ODIs this year with four centuries and four half-centuries.

Dyson said he had spoken to stand-in coach David Moore who felt the team had more potential than it had shown. "Now it's about finding a way of bringing that potential out. I'm not a big believer in putting the broom through a place upon arrival.

"And I don't expect people to compare this West Indies squad with those of the '70s and '80s. What they did for international cricket was to introduce a form of professionalism and dedication never seen before. These guys have to develop their own personality and see what brand of cricket they can play."

West Indies play three Tests, five ODIs and two Twenty20 matches against South Africa between December 16 and February 3.

© Cricinfo