UNITED?WE?STAND, divided we fall!
That may be the slogan of the Barbados Workers’ Union, but in a startling revelation yesterday after the first victory on their tour of New Zealand, West Indies One-Day International (ODI) captain Dwayne Bravo attributed the poor results of the regional cricket team in recent times to a lack of unity among the players.
“Before we played the game, I really stressed on unity as the team was lacking in that lately and hence the reason why we have been playing so poorly,” Bravo told reporters after the Windies defeated New Zealand by two wickets in a low-scoring first ODI?at Eden Park.
“I made a concerted effort to bring everyone together and get everyone involved,” added Bravo, who was not selected for the preceding three-Test series which the regional side lost 2-0 under the leadership of Darren Sammy.
“I keep stressing [on unity], and if you have noticed [after] every wicket I get the team together and one player says something positive,” the inspirational captain said.
“It doesn’t come from me all the time. It can be a Darren Sammy or a Kieron Powell or a Lendl Simmons,” he added.
Before the victory, the Windies suffered lopsided innings losses in both Tests against India inside three of the scheduled five days and had lost 13 of their 23 ODI matches last year.
The outspoken Bravo said they were motivated after watching a movie depicting the struggles of the iconic, late South African anti-aparthied freedom fighter and first black president Nelson Mandela on Christmas morning.
“We sat down Christmas morning, and watched Invictus, the movie with Morgan Freeman acting as Nelson Mandela. That inspired us,” said the ODI skipper.
“It showed the importance of sport. We are fortunate to represent our nation. We are the few players to do that. It hurts our fans when we don’t win cricket games, and not only losing, but the way we lose at times”.
Bravo noted that yesteray’s triumph was criticial for the team’s resurgence.
“I think a win is very important at the moment. Confidence has been low as a team. It was good we got over the line. We scratched, but we got over the line.” (EZS)
