Cricket: West Indies' uphill battle

WEST INDIES go into today's World Cup Group B qualifying match with Bangladesh in Dublin with their former batsman Gordon Greenidge sounding less than optimistic about his old side's chances of doing well in the tournament.

Greenidge, who these days is the coach of Bangladesh, was a World Cup winner with West Indies in 1975 and 1979, but can see no light at the end of the tunnel for the one-time Caribbean kings, who lost their opening World Cup match to Pakistan on Sunday.

Greenidge said: "They're struggling. Once Courtney Walsh and Curtly Ambrose go out of the attack they will struggle, although Mervyn Dillon bowled reasonably well against Pakistan. But they're also going to struggle with the bat. If they're going to rely on Brian Lara and Shivnarine Chanderpaul so much, it's going to be uphill for them."

As for his adopted country's chances, Greenidge said: "We'll be looking to play well and if we get the opportunity to put some pressure on the West Indies, we will do so. What we have to do is get consistency so batting, bowling and fielding all come together at the same time."

Greenidge, meanwhile, is looking for a marked improvement in Bangladesh's performance after their defeat against New Zealand on Monday. Poor batting saw them dismissed for 116, and the coach said: "We did a lot of crazy things in the batting. We have sat down and talked about applying ourselves in such situations, but it does not seem to be working."

West Indies' preparations for today's game have been disrupted further with the news that their coach, Malcolm Marshall, is to have exploratory abdominal surgery tomorrow.

Marshall, 41, has had a stomach complaint for several months. It is not known when he will be fit to resume his coaching duties with the squad.