“I think the guys have done a good job”

Dwayne Bravo shows little respect to debutant spinner Beau Casson - (Brooks La Touche Photography)

FRIDAY JUNE 13 – Bridgetown, Barbados – West Indies head coach says that

since many pundits had predicted that the Australians would maul the West

Indies in the Digicel Test Series and that has not happened that the home side

has done well despite being 1-0 down in with the final Digicel Test being

uncertain.

Shivnarine Chanderpaul hammers Beau Casson for four -(Brooks La Touche Photography)

"In this particular series, considering that a lot of people thought that the

Australians were going to come in and just take the series without any

opposition at all and probably take it three nil, I think the guys have done a good

job," Dyson told reporters at the end of day two of the Third Digicel Test at the

Kensington Oval.

Dyson intimated though that the Caribbean public has to be more patient and

not expect a complete overnight transformation of the team.

Mitchell Johnson and his team mates celebrate a wicket - (Brooks La Touche Photography)

"We've played a couple of poor sessions, that's something you can't turn around

in five seconds. This is one of the Caribbean conflicts that I have. People aren't

magicians, you just don't click your fingers and all of a sudden everything turns

around and is fixed," lamented Dyson who took over the head coach role in the

latter half of 2007.

He blamed the poor regional First Class competition for inculcating bad habits in

the players which are exposed and exploited at the international level by

superior teams.

Mitchell Johnson celebrates one of his four wickets (left) and Shivnarine Chaderpaul drives Stuart Clark (right) - (Brooks La Touche Photography)

"You've got to look at a whole lot of things that contribute to this (inconsistent

performance), you look at the sub competition (First Class) that the guys play in

and the sort of cricket that they play and you see reflected exactly what we see

out there (on the Test field)," said the 54-year-old former Australian opener

whose international career included 30 Tests.

"You can't take guys that are playing that (the regional First Class competition)

day in and day out, bring them in (the Test team) and expect them, with the click

of your fingers to go 'oh I'll play a totally different style of cricket'. You can play

that way in the competition below, you can't do that in Australia because the

competition below is much stronger," Dyson pointed out.

Dyson though said that despite this being a major concern he has not yet

formally raised the issue with the West Indies Cricket Board.

In addition, while analysts and commentators agreed that the West Indies top

order played a series of poor shots which ended with their dismissals Dyson did

not agree fully with the analysis.

"I don't think the batsmen throw it all away just like that, we're disappointed

with the batting effort today and the batsmen would be first to admit that,"

Dyson revealed as he praised his main batsman Shivnarine Chanderpaul (79 not

out) for batting beautifully.

Shivnarine Chanderpaul raises his bat to acknowledge another Test half century - (Brooks La Touche Photography)

"He (Chanderpaul) always does (make major contributions) unfortunately so far

in this series some of the lesser profile players haven't made a major

contribution to support that and that's a little disappointing and the guys

themselves are disappointed with that," Dyson said

"I don't know about being soft dismissals, it's a very, very fine line, you want

players to be aggressive, particularly on wickets that offer a bit of pace and

bounce but on that fine line where it does not come off you want to term it

"throwing it away", I don't quite follow that," Dyson said quizzically.

"We're not converting our 20s and 30s often enough, occasionally the execution

isn't spot on and occasionally you get out to a superb catch or superb piece of

fielding," Dyson said in defence of his batting line up.

Moreover, the Windies coach reckons that despite a 70 run advantage for

Australia going into the third day's play and with the West Indies having to bat

last on what will be a worn pitch the match still hangs in the balance.

"I score the game at the moment as being even, there's three days of cricket

left, we're going to have to bowl exceptionally well and bat exceptionally well in

the final innings, I don't see the wicket breaking up so it will be an interesting

game from here in," Dyson assessed. (COURTESY-: digicelcricket.com)