Windies bashing at its peak; wives revive England hopes

St Peters, Antigua, Apr 5 (UNI) It is Windies bashing at its peak. The home side after losing three matches in a row are getting thrashed and condemned by all sections -- media, fans and former cricketers.

Some of the West Indies players sought and received permission from their board for a break of two days as they have an eight-day gap till their next game. But the move has been termed as grossly unprofessional by former players.

For former skipper Richie Richardson, it's ''unbelievable'' and according to Joel Garner, ''dispersing the team is a bunch of nonsense''.

''I saw them in the first round in Jamaica and I felt they looked really good,'' Richardson was quoted as saying in local media.

''But in Antigua they were a totally different side, totally flat. Now we are hearing they want time to go home and relax. That's unbelievable.'' Garner was even less forgiving. ''Going home, for what? You can't walk off in the middle of the battle. We have to be together and correct the errors,'' he added.

However, former skipper Clive Lloyd has supported Brian Lara's men.

''This team can play better than they have done,'' he said.

The West Indies play South Africa in Grenada on Tuesday then play their last two league matches against Bangaldesh (April 19) and England (April 21) in Kensington Oval, Barbados.

Meanwhile, England coach Duncan Fletcher is happy because his assertion that that presence of wives and girlfriends (WAGS) will improve his team's performance has come true to some extent.

The arrival of the WAGS of the England team seemed to have come as a tonic for Michael Vaughan's dispirited team.

Against Sri Lanka, they were gave a splendid display in the field, pulling off great catches and run-outs, Paul Collingwood's catch at a very wide slip to send back Chaminda Vaas was a great sight to behold. And in chase of Sri Lanka's 235, they took the game all the way down to the wire.

Clearly coach Duncan Fletcher knew what he was talking about, having drawn a parallel to the turnaround in fortunes during the tour Down Under where England rebounded from an Ashes sweep to shut Australia out of the tri-series final with three wins in a row.

Though England fell two runs short at the business end of the game, it should at least put an end to talk about a lack of spine in the side, for which players of Indian (Ravi Bopara, 52) and Pakistani origin (Sajid Mahmood, 4/50), incidentally, played stellar roles.

Also England too get a replacement as Stuart Broad will replace fellow-seamer Jon Lewis in the team. The World Cup's technical committee had approved the replacement. Lewis had asked to go home as his wife was experiencing complications in the latter stages of her pregnancy.

The confirmation was conveyed to the England and Wales Cricket Board on Tuesday evening. The ECB applied for the change on the basis of exceptional circumstances, something allowed for under the terms of reference given to the tournament Technical Committee.

Broad became the seventh replacement player to be called up for the tournament.

Australia's Stuart Clark, who replaced Brett Lee (ankle), the Pakistan trio of Azhar Mahmood, Mohammad Sami and Yasir Arafat, who came in for Abdul Razzaq (knee), Shoaib Akhtar (hamstring and knee), Mohammed Asif (elbow) New Zealand's Chris Martin, who came in place for Daryl Tuffey (bicep) and Hamish Marshall, who replaced Lou Vincent (wrist), are the others to be called up following the announcements of the final squads of 15 players.

UNI