Pressure telling on Jimmy Adams
West Indies' cricket captain Jimmy Adams showed signs of strain on Friday as he fended off questions about his leadership in wake of another inept display by his team against Australia.
The wobbly Windies -- thrashed 5-0 by Australia in the just-completed Test series -- stumbled to a 74-run loss to the home country at the Melbourne Cricket Ground on Thursday night in the opening match of the summer's tri-nations one-day contest.
Batting second after Australia had compiled 267 for six, the West Indies grafted an unenterprising 16 runs off their first 11 overs and effectively killed the clash as a contest. They finished with 193 for seven from their 50 overs.
"Last night looked really bad," conceded Adams, who is at the mercy of his under-performing players, including the enigmatic Brian Lara, once regarded as the world's top batsman.
"Players have a responsibility to accept roles that they are given and hopefully we won't have a repeat of last night for the rest of this series."
Adams said he did not consider his leadership under threat despite the woeful Test results and the miserable early one-day form.
"It's not a case of me feeling the pressure," he said, rejecting suggestions the time had come to lay down the law to his players.
"I'm here to do a job in Australia and (as far as the captaincy goes) we'll see what happens after that."
A number of factors had contributed to Thursday's below-par effort, in which at least five catches went to ground, he said.
"It's fair to say we had a poor outing in the field, we didn't back up the bowlers as well as we should have and we lost the plot in the middle overs, while batting, as well," he said.
Improvement could be expected against Zimbabwe at the Gabba on Saturday and against Australia on the same ground Sunday.
Unless Zimbabwe, who have been playing well, can at least be competitive against Australia, there are major concerns the triangular series could be a non-event, costing the Australian Cricket Board vital revenue.
Twin losses by the Windies would see their spirits slump even lower. Despite the Windies' woes, Australian pace spearhead Glenn McGrath said Friday there would be no holding back.
"They're going through some tough times, but we won't be taking it easy on them," he said.
Mail Cricket Editor
