COOLIDGE, Antigua (CMC):Legendary West Indies all-rounder Sir Garry Sobers believes the regional team still has a long way to go, despite their heartening performance in the first Test in South Africa recently.
Sir Garry, who played 93 Tests for the West Indies between 1954 and 1974, stressed that while there were small signs of improvements, it was too early to say the side was turning the corner.
"We won a Test match against South Africa and we started shouting for murder. I don't think we can look at it like that," said Sir Garry, one of 14 Stanford Twenty20 Legends gathered here for the second edition of the tournament. "We have to look at the consistency of West Indies cricket and there haven't been really that tremendous amount of improvement.
"I think we still have a long way to go and our players must recognise that consistency, hard work, dedication and playing as a team is the most important ingredient in development, especially at the level of Test cricket.
"We only have one player who plays consistently, Shivnarine Chanderpaul. We have players who came in and made runs," he continued, adding it was unfortu-nate Chris Gayle had been injured on tour and Ramnaresh Sarwan had been unavailable also because of injury.
Fitness issue
He believes if these players had been fit, the West Indies' fortunes would have been different in South Africa.
"If we have all these players, with what we have seen in South Africa, we can say that we look as though we are getting somewhere, but I don't think we can say that with any great certainty until we see some more Test cricket by these same players," the 71-year-old icon noted.
Sir Garry, who scored 8,032 runs at an average of 57.78 in Tests, said the issue of fitness needed to be addressed.
"Our players need to get themselves fit enough so that they can play a full series," Sir Garry stressed. "Players are not only to depend on who is put there to get them fit, they must get themselves fit and they must want to play West Indies cricket. They must get out there and work hard on their fitness because if you're fit, you can give 100 per cent."
