Weather threatens England A's chances of reaching semis
England A coach Peter Moores has warned his players against overconfidence in the preparations against Busta Cup minnows Windward Islands, in the sixth round match starting in St Lucia today
Kate Laven
09-Feb-2001
England A coach Peter Moores has warned his players against overconfidence
in the preparations against Busta Cup minnows Windward Islands, in the sixth
round match starting in St Lucia today.
Following their seven-wicket victory against Jamaica on Monday, England A
are in a buoyant mood despite the departure of Leicestershire batsman Aftab
Habib, who was forced back to England for surgery on an injured shoulder.
Since the squad arrived in St Lucia, the rain has also been falling, which
has ruled out net practice at the Mindoo Phillip ground in Castries and
which has cast doubt over England A's chances of pulling off an outright
victory against bottom of the table Windwards to seccure their place in the
semi-finals.
"It would be very easy after beating Jamaica to take this game lightly but
we can't," said Moores.
"You are always wary of a side that has struggled a bit because they are
going to be massively motivated to get themselves up and running so it is
another big game for us.
"They hadn't had any rain at all for two weeks here but we know that this
weather doesn't look like it will go away. Hopefully when we get out there,
the wicket will do a little bit. Whatever game we play is likely to be
shortened but we might be lucky.
"We can't control the weather. What we can do is make sure that whatever
game we play we are prepared and ready to go. There is just a flat sheet
over the wicket so it must have sweated a little bit. We will have to wait
and see but it would be disappointing to say the least if it rains."
It may even scupper England A's hopes of reaching the semi-finals since the
top of the Busta Cup table is tight with just six points separating the top
four sides. Guyana and Jamaica have soft ties against the weakest sides West
Indies B and Windwards as their remaining fixtures while England A have a
tough match against top-of-the-table Leeward Islands in their next match in
Anguilla.
They were hoping for maximum points from this game and the onset of rains
may reduce their chances of playing a full four-day match.
In addition, England A were forced to move out of their hotel in Castries
when it was found that the beds were too soft, aggravating problems among
players with a back condition. They spent Wednesday, their day off,
searching for new accommodation and making the transfer.
"It hass been a distracting couple of days," admitted Moores who, with Mark
Alleyne nad John Crawley, will sit down later and select the line up for the
Windwards match.
"Alex Tudor still has a sore side so it wouldn't surprise me if he didn't
play. He may well start bowling, building up over the next three or four
days so he is fit for the next game. We won't risk throwing him in if he's
not right.
"Losing Aftab doesn't really affect the make-up of the team though without
him, we no longer have a choice over the batting because we only have six
batsmen here. Competition is nice but the lads know that we can go in with
five all-rounders and still have strength."