'Whispering Death' delivers a chilling verdict - Telegraph
'Whispering Death' delivers a chilling verdict
High-five: Malcolm Marshall (left) and Michael Holding 
By James Mossop
12:01AM BST 25 Jul 2004
They had a bowler known as 'Whispering Death' and their followers produced the mocking 'blackwash' banner as the West Indies came to Lord's on their way to a 5-0 series win.
It was 20 years ago. Opening batsman Gordon Greenidge hit double centuries in the second and fourth Tests; strike bowlers Malcolm Marshall, Michael Holding and Joel Garner, were so violently accurate that the doyen of cricket writers, John Woodcock wrote in The Times: "Their pacemen have brought a new, and dare I say it, chilling dimension to the game. Batsmen, however protected, face them at their peril."
Their inheritors have been struggling but their batsman, led by vice-captain Shivnarine Chanderpaul, were making a game of it yesterday. Somebody had to because of the way they allowed England to take control on Thursday when the Windies bowled and fielded as a leaderless rabble.
There were times when you could have pulled a better fielding side from the media centre and the hospitality boxes - Sir Viv Richards, Clive Lloyd, Holding (old Whispering Death himself), Ian Bishop, Garner and so on.
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Why is this team, led by an unconventional captain who is a genius with the bat, Brian Lara, below par? Many West Indians agree despite yesterday's batting recovery on a docile wicket.
Holding's view: "The West Indies team in the late Seventies and Eighties was abnormal. That doesn't happen with any team on a regular basis. A lot of people are judging the current or even recent West Indies teams on those standards, which is unfair.
"The main problem is in our bowling department where there is a lack of talent. There are a few youngsters who, with proper nurturing, could develop into reasonable bowlers although they will not be world beaters. Our next problem is not having a real team in the true sense of the word. It is frustrating because I know there is a lot of talent out there, especially in the batting department but even that is not consistent."
There was sympathy from another former fast bowler, Bishop, who said: "This is a young team. You had [Courtney] Walsh and [Curtly] Ambrose exiting after the last tour in 2000 so in that sense you were left with the remnants of a good team in Brian Lara and Ridley Jacobs with all the other guys trying to make a name for themselves and they have struggled.
"I find it frustrating that the talent is not living up to its potential. I know they can be better and follow the great tradition."
Tony Cozier, for decades the informed voice of Caribbean cricket in print and as a broadcaster, added: "There are a lot of reasons why the talent hasn't come through. There is talent but they don't have the advantage of playing county cricket as they used to, or even league cricket.
"All the great and outstanding players had their final development in English cricket in the leagues or in county cricket. These days a West Indian playing in the Lancashire leagues would be a rarity. At the moment there are just two in county cricket, Carl Hooper [Lancashire] and Nixon McLean [Somerset], but in the Seventies, Warwickshire had Kanhai, Lance Gibbs and Deryck Murray. Somerset had Viv Richards and Joel Garner. Other counties had one or two Caribbean players.
"The majority of players under Clive Lloyd's captaincy would have been involved in county cricket which meant they visited Lord's several times. They knew what to expect. All these bowlers today are playing in their first Test match in England on their first trip to England.
"We have become very slack. Our coaching methods are bad at all levels. Our fielding is absolutely abysmal. We set fielding standards in the Seventies. We have lost the work ethic. Maybe it's the overall attitude in the Caribbean at the moment where young people don't want to work. The ethic is not what it should be."