Cricket: W Indies go from `disaster to disaster'

THE MANAGER of the West Indies, Clive Lloyd, claimed injuries, illness and attitude problems are to blame for the tourists' dismal showings in South Africa.

After seven matches on their tour, the West Indies have yet to register a win, even in one-day games against invitation teams, and trail South Africa 2-0 in the five-Test series.

Lloyd, who captained the West Indies during their most successful era in the 1970s and 1980s, said: "We seem to be stumbling from one disaster to another."

He said the injuries to key players Jimmy Adams and Dinanath Ramnarine and the glandular fever which affected opening batsman Philo Wallace had also been big blows.

"We are disappointed," Lloyd admitted in Durban yesterday. "We have to try to rectify the situation." Lloyd said the disasters had started with the threatened strike by players which delayed the beginning of the tour.

"We didn't start right. We have had problems with injuries and illness and our batsmen have not shown the right sort of attitude," he said.

The West Indies play a Natal XI in an Asian township outside Durban, in a one-day game today, and a four-day match against South Africa A in Pietermaritzburg starting on Saturday. The third Test starts in Durban on Boxing Day.