ST JOHN’S – Former West Indies captain Sir Vivian Richards says current captain Denesh Ramdin needs to lead the regional side with more aggression following their loss to England in the second cricket Test match.
Richards says Ramdin needs to develop a killer instinct, a lack of which he believes has worked against the home team throughout the Wisden Test series against England.
The tourists lead the series 1-0 after drawing the first Test in Antigua and winning the second in Grenada by nine wickets.
“There are times when I think he is positive and there are times when I think, sometimes, where the falling asleep syndrome sort of comes into play,” said Richards.
“You can see from the outside . . . when England were 40 something for three, there could have been some much more aggressive attitude in terms of getting [Joe] Root and [Ian] Bell out”.
West Indies have been heavily criticised for surrendering a position of strength and crashing to defeat in the second Test by losing their last eight second innings wickets for 105 runs.
Sir Viv, who as a captain won 27 of 50 Test matches and lost only eight, says there was no reason for the regional side to lose the game.
“One has got to remember also that if you cannot win the match you should not lose,” said Richards, who never lost a Test series as captain and is regarded as one of the greatest batsmen of all times.
“It wasn’t a devil as a wicket, but we still got out and especially from good positions . . . it’s all about maybe, playing as hard as you can knowing you are behind and the only thing you have left now is basically for you to try and draw the series. We haven’t totally been outplayed, so at least there is a chance”.
The third and final Test starts tomorrow at Kensington Oval. (CMC)
