War of words erupts over host's dismal outing in World Cup

St George's, Grenada, Apr 14 (UNI) A war of words erupted among the former players and commentators over the dismal showing of the West Indies team in the ongoing Cricket World Cup.

They are squabbling over the reasons for the team's poor World Cup outing. While veteran broadcaster Tony Cozier blamed skipper Brian Lara and said, ''The buck stops with the captain, who has failed as skipper for the third time.'' But the legendary Sir Garfield Sobers is of the view that its the Caribbean cricket board who should be blamed over the debacle.

''Sometimes people don't look at facts, over the last few years the West Indies board has had huge problems.'' The host nation have won all their three games in the preliminary round, but since then they were outclassed by Australia, New Zealand, Sri Lanka and South Africa in the Super Eights, which resulted in their humiliating exit from the mega event.

''There is no way Lara can stay on, what sort of message would that send out?'' Cozier told BBC Sport, adding, ''Someone has to be held culpable for this. This was a home event for us and we've failed badly in it. Bold measures need to be taken.'' Sobers, one of the greatest players of all-time, who scored 7999 Test runs and took 235 wickets, however opined that there were fundamental reasons for the decline that had nothing to do with Lara.

''One, the board didn't have enough money to have enough camps.

Two, there were always problems with not being able to field a strong West Indies team, there were strikes and there were all kinds of problems,'' he said, adding, '' to build a house, if you don't have a solid foundation and you build a house, you are going to have problems later on.'' Cozier, who has been commentating on West Indies cricket for almost five decades, was unrelenting in his criticism. ''There has been a lack of intensity and poor preparation. The fitness coach gave up in frustration in Pakistan and they haven't replaced him till date. We don't have a fielding coach, so it's no wonder they have struggled so badly and we have received authoritative reports that players have been partying at night.'' ''The contractual dispute with the players was only solved when the tournament started - there was a very real threat of the team going on strike. There is indecision and incompetence throughout and you can't just blame one or two individuals,'' he said and added that action needs to be taken quickly.

Meanwhile, West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) chief executive Ken Gordon has pledged that changes will be made. ''You better believe that they have started already,'' he said.

However, he accused the media of constant criticism which resulted in destabilising the host nation's hopes. He also demanded the resignation of Lara from the post of skipper.

''Let's face it, Lara was put there by the management, and I would be prepared to take whatever responsibility for it when the time comes. We all know that on its best day this team can beat anybody, but the reality is that the team is not enjoying its best days,'' the WCB chief added.

UNI