Following the just concluded International Cricket Council (ICC) meeting in Malaysia international cricket captains have been targeted by the world governing body as key figures in safeguarding the game's health and future.

West Indies captain Carl Hooper has always been one player who has set the right example along with his predecessor Brian Lara of walking once they know they are out. In contrast Australians in particular even their captain Steve Waugh and vice captain Adam Gilchrist have been known to stand their ground even when it appears they may be dismissed.

"The West Indies team was one of those that have always set very good examples, all of their top players including their captain most of the times walk immediately without waiting on the umpires decision, which is good for the sport," a ICCspokeperson confirmed.

The International Cricket Council relaunched themselves, amid video loops and pounding electronic music at Lord's yesterday, as an aggressive global competitor in a corporate world, but the essence of their message remained defiantly old-fashioned - the spirit of cricket.

Malcolm Speed, the ICC's chief executive, emphasized the "major responsibility" of captains to the spirit of cricket. He said: "Our aim is to work with the captains to ensure that they live up to this. International cricket is fiercely competitive, and we do not seek to change that at all. What we seek is to remove sledging and excessive appealing entirely.

"We would like to see more players walk when they know they are out - to respect the spirit of the game and accept a fieldsman's words when he says he has caught the ball." To raise umpiring standards the elite, fully professional panel of eight will be set up by April 2002, with a reduced list of five referees. The ICC expects fierce competition for places. The West Indies only have one main representatives now among test umpires in Steve Bucknor who has any chance of making this reduced list. This must be of concern for the Caribbean region.

The ICC is aiming to stiffen penalties for misbehaviour by abandoning discretionary suspended sentences and by removing limits on suspension periods and fines - currently 75 per cent of match fee. Speed said: "Already the response from captains has been overwhelming - they are very keen to play their part."

The written suggestion by one international captain to the ICC, that captains should take routine lie-detector tests every six months, would have been laughed off a few years ago, but in these days of corruption the authorities confirmed yesterday that the idea would be followed up with further discussion. The ICC said that corruption remained a high priority, especially as estimates suggested that almost £180 million was wagered with bookmakers worldwide on each one-day or Test match.

Malcolm Gray, the ICC president and, like Speed, an Australian, said that the corruption revelations had not damaged sponsorship as expected. He added: "Strangely, the one tiny silver lining in the cloud of corruption was the impetus it gave to the need for power to be granted to the ICC."

Gray said that the anti-corruption campaign, Test championship, world development programme and an expansion in central staff would take cricket into a new era. The spirit of cricket became the recurring theme when he added: "It is not exaggerating to say that cricket has enormous power to act as a unifying force that can help overcome differences of race, religion and culture. In the current climate of fear and uncertainty that is a quality we should appreciate."

Chairman of the West Indies Selection panel, Michael Findlay says despite the 10 wicket first test defeat suffered by the West Indies team to Sri Lanka at Galle on Saturday, all is not lost,as the West Indies prepare to face Sri Lanka again in the second of a three test series on Wednesday," I have certainly not given up hope and I don't believe people in the region should lose faith in the team, because all is not lost. Our performance for at least the first two days shows that our team can compete," Findlay told the Trinidad Guardian.

"If we can apply ourselves, we can do it, we need though to take our chances when they come, for instance both Ramnaresh Sarwan and Carl Hooper should have got centuries. But now that is behind us and we have to move on positively,"added Findlay

Findlay a former West Indies wicketkeeper says," The depth of our batting has to be examined as well because after (Ridley) Jacobs, there is not much, and we have to look at ways to get our bowlers to understand how important batting is at all times. We ideally need an allrounder in our team and we have been looking around for a while for one."

While Findlay conceded that the bowling always held concerns, he says it is still too early to write off this young team," We always had concerns about the bowling, but these were the best bowlers available. (Colin) Stuart bowled good in Zimbabwe and (Reon) King seem to be okay, but then was injured, so too Cameron Cuffy is injured. A lot of responsibility therefore rested on Meryvn Dillon and he bowled from all reports. Neil McGarrel though did not perform as everyone expected,"said Findlay.

"To come back, what we have to do is review what we did wrong, have a look at our performances and examine all the areas that need improvement and make them swiftly. We need more application and for instance Chris Gayle has to be made to understand how important is opening position is,"noted Findlay.

The West Indies were in the main mesmerized by the off spinning wizardry of Muttiah Muralitharan, and Findlay admits," We just do not have a matchwinning spin bowler in our team like some of the other teams in the World, some of them have both fast bowlers and spin bowlers that can win a match, we are still searching for that person or persons. Didnath Ramnarine is perhaps our best spinner but he has not reached the level of being a matchwinner as yet, but there is still a lot of hope for him."

Findlay also does not forsee any change in the batting order to counteract the inexperience after Brian Lara at number 4 and captain Carl Hooper at number 5," There is not much that can be done, in the South Africa series Carl batted at number 6 and many times was left with only the tailenders to support him, and in fact he and Brian complement each other and bat good together. Once we have Sarwan at three, we have to keep (Marlon) Samuels at number 6, but we need for him to understand he has to be patient,"

"Yes we know that had number 6, means there is a lot of inexperience there including Jacobs, but there is not much that can be done as Chanderpaul, the other player who has experience is not on the tour, we should give this batting at least another opportunity to show his strength before we try to make too many changes,"declared Findlay.

Findlay also is asking the public to be patient," Yes we had success against Zimbabwe, but Sri Lanka are in a different class and they have two top quality bowlers such as Muralitharan and Vaas, so our players will need to adapt their approach accordingly."

"The defeat hurts all of us, but we can bounce back, we have not been disgraced because we gave as good as got for most of this match and we must take consolation from that and look to better results in the remaining matches,"said Findlay.

West Indian fans though were shocked at the news of the 10 wicket defeat by the West Indies on Saturday in the first test between the West Indies and Sri Lanka in Galle in separate interviews with the Caribbean Media Corporation (CMC),

Off-spinner Muttiah Muralitharan produced another of his deadly spells of bowling to lead Sri Lanka to a 10-wicket defeat of West Indies on the fifth and final day of the first test. The tourists were dismissed shortly before tea for 144 in their second innings, which added to their first innings score of 448 saw them just avoid an innings defeat to the home side, who had made 590-9 declared. But Sri Lanka were left requiring just three runs for the win and skipper Sanath Jayasuriya made six, hitting a boundary off Colin Stuart on the fourth ball he faced to clinch the win. Sri Lanka now leads the three-test series 1-0, with the second test starting in Kandy next Wednesday.

"This is not what we expected, first we are not seeing the cricket and then you awake to hear that your team has crumbled against spin, it is not what you want to hear on the weekend," said leading West Indian follower Errol" The Mechanic" Gerard

"One has to ask what is wrong with the team, as it seems as if our players cannot play well under pressure, it is not the first our batting has failed when trying to save a match, it happened against South Africa earlier this year in the Caribbean," said Gerard.

"We have to question the tactics of the West Indies team, we need for our players to be sounder in defense, we have a lot of so call spin bowlers who capture a lot of wickets in our regional tournament, and we need to now question the quality of our spinners,"

"Cricket is also a mind game as well and all this talk from even the West Indies management about the skills of Muralitharam and other spinners before the test series would have implanted a scare in the minds of the West Indies players, all of this should have been addressed," he added

Another Leading cricket fan Dennis Williams told CMC," It is hurtful after what Brian did on the first day and the start the West Indies got to see the entire team just capitulate so easily on the last day and it does not augur well for the remainder of the test series,"

"It would need a lot of improvement for us to now even draw this series and it would always require the management to be very close to the team, for them to even come closer, the senior players will have to dominate the game even more," he added

"It is passing strange just how so suddenly all the runs could have dried up, but we have to understand that the cheap dismissals in both innings of the prolific Chris Gayle must have had an impact on the team's performance." Nigel Mark, another veteran of West Indies cricket believes," That the team did not play well because they felt no one in the Caribbean cared about their performances, as we did not see or hear the matches live.... that to me was a slap in the face of the West Indies players and the guys started with a negative,"

"We should have sought that out, because it means that we in the region have to wait for reports out of Sri Lanka and sometimes these reports do not tell the whole story, unless this guy Muralitharam and the other bowler Vass are some miracle workers and they cast a spell that seem to bamboozle our players,"

"This will test the mettle of Carl Hooper and what he can inspire the team for, he needs to be positive and go for a result, but also our bowlers need to raise their standard, it is a pity that we did not take a quality spinner like Dave Mohammed on this tour who go out there and attack batsmen, we might have to pay for that," said Mark

James O'Brien, an Englishman who follows cricket internationally was certain of the cause of the defeat," It was the old factor that the batting again started to depend on Brian Lara, they kept thinking he could resurrect them no matter what the situation, and they never fought for themselves,"

"There was no belly in the second innings, no bowler is that good unless you allow him to dominate you, the West Indies management got their planning all wrong, they had better solve this quickly before it is too late,"O'Brien stated.

Trinidad and Tobago's premier footballer Dwight Yorke is about to become a father, The Trinidad Guradian learnt this weekend BUSTY glamour girl Jordan is expecting soccer star Dwight Yorke's baby after celebrating their reunion with a night of passion. They decided to give their off-on relationship another go in July.

Jordan is now four months pregnant and says she HAS told the Manchester United striker the news. But asked about it yesterday at his £1million mansion in Alderley Edge, Cheshire, Dwight blurted: "You winding me up?"

Speaking over the intercom, he added: "I don't know what you're talking about." He was later spotted leaving a jeweller's in Manchester, clutching a small purple bag before driving off in his Porsche. Meanwhile, Jordan was buying £200-worth of clothes in London's King's Road. Asked if she was four months pregnant, she replied "Yes".

Yet just nine days ago Jordan was spending the night with former love, pop star Dane Bowers - and earlier this week Dwight was on the town with TV beauty Gabrielle Richens, dubbed The Pleasure Machine. News of Jordan's pregnancy came a day after Liz Hurley confirmed The Sun's story that SHE is expecting. Last night, a source close to 23-year-old Jordan - famed for her surgically-enhanced 34FF boobs - said she was curbing her party lifestyle. She went on: "When she goes out now she sticks to soft drinks. She still goes to trendy London spots like Chinawhite but is taking all this very seriously. "She has started having morning sickness, I don't know if she's had any cravings."

Another pal added: "She has been for a scan and everything is okay. She is delighted at the news. She has already told Dwight and will be meeting up with him this Sunday for a big party at his house to celebrate his recent 30th birthday. "I am sure a few words will be said as she is spitting blood at the fact that Dwight was out with another girl. "All she needs at the moment is a bit of loving and for Dwight to settle down with the news that they are having a kid together."

Fun-loving Dwight was pictured with 26-year-old Gabby - host of Channel 5 adventure show The Desert Forges - at London's Cabaret Club. They left hand in hand. The pal added: "Jordan was furious to see the snaps of the two of them - but not nearly as livid as her mum. If Jordan doesn't give Dwight a big enough kicking for it, her mum will!" The pal did not explain why Jordan was seen back in the arms of ex-flame Dane, 21.

The couple - who had a bitter split a year ago - went back to the former Another Level star's place after smooching at McClusky's nightclub in Croydon, Surrey. They did not emerge until the next morning. One clubgoer said: "They had their tongues down each other's throats for most of the night and didn't care who saw." They were hot under the collar and couldn't take their hands off each other." Jordan - real name Katie Price - has just bought a farm in Brighton where she hopes to bring up the tot. She does not yet know its sex. She got back together with Dwight after two months apart - and just after she split from squaddie Joe White, 23.

First signs of the pregnancy came when Jordan pulled out of appearances such as TV's Frank Skinner show a fortnight ago due to "personal reasons." Jordan's spokesman Dave Read said: "I can confirm Jordan is four months pregnant with Dwight's child and that everything is OK. "The pregnancy explains why she has been letting a few people down recently. She missed Frank's show and a couple of other events."

West Indies captain Carl Hooper said that there was no easy way to counter Muttiah Muralitharan after the off-spinner spun Sri Lanka to a 10-wicket victory in the first test.

"When you play against world class bowlers I don't think you can plan," he said. "It is not as if he's got one particularly strength. He bowls virtually everything.

"He's got a straighter ball, a flighted ball and a flat ball, so basically, you've got to play what you see, I don't think you can plan for someone like Muralitharan."

Sri Lanka won after Muralitharan took five for 44 as West Indies collapsed to 144 all out in the second innings. Muralitharan claimed overall figures of 11 for 169.

Sri Lanka skipper Sanath Jayasuriya said: "We won because we stuck to the basics against their key players Brian Lara and Hooper.

"Our only worry was Lara and Hooper because they have the experience and know how to handle Murali.

"We didn't want to try anything silly. As the wicket was turning more, the bowlers concentrated on their line and length."

Lara managed 178 in the first innings and 40 in the second while Hooper made 69 and six.

The second match of the three-test series starts in Kandy on Wednesday

Off-spinner Muttiah Muralitharan produced another of his deadly spells of bowling to lead Sri Lanka to a 10-wicket defeat of West Indies on the fifth and final day of the first test.

The tourists were dismissed shortly before tea for 144 in their second innings, which added to their first innings score of 448 saw them just avoid an innings defeat to the home side, who had made 590-9 declared.

But Sri Lanka were left requiring just three runs for the win and skipper Sanath Jayasuriya made six, hitting a boundary off Colin Stuart on the fourth ball he faced to clinch the win.

Sri Lanka now lead the three-test series 1-0, with the second test starting in Kandy next Wednesday.

Muralitharan followed his figures of six for 125 in the first innings with five for 44 to finish on 11 for 169 -- the eighth time in his career he had taken more than ten wickets in a test match.

Resuming at nine for one, West Indies progressed well enough to reach 70 for one, but thereafter they collapsed -- losing nine wickets for 74 runs.

Left-arm spinner Niroshan Bandaratillake gave Sri Lanka the breakthrough in the morning by dismissing opener Darren Ganga for 33, when he swept a ball to square leg.

Bandaratillake followed this success with the wicket of Carl Hooper for six when the West Indies captain holed out to extra cover.

However it was part time spinner Tilan Samaraweera who went a long way to ensuring the victory, when he grabbed the prize wicket of Brian Lara.

Sanath Jayasuriya brought Samaraweera on for the first time in the 64th over of the day and he obliged his captain by inducing Lara to drive a catch to Muralitharan at midwicket.

Lara, who made 178 in the first innings, was out for 40 and with him went West Indian hopes of saving the test.

Muralitharan who began the day by taking the wicket of Ramnaresh Sarwan for 30, then ran through the rest of the batting with the last four wickets tumbling for 13 runs.

It was he who began the West Indies collapse in the first innings from 423 for four to 448 all out.

Muralitharan took the man-of-the-match award as Sri Lanka celebrated their fourth successive victory at this venue and their first in four tests against the West Indies.

Richie Richardson calls for review of cricket captain's duties

Former West Indian skipper Richie Richardson this past week urged authorities to review the traditional role of national team captains, saying the pressures of the modern game were leading to burn-out.

He wants other high-profile former players, such as FORMER Australian captain Mark Taylor, to join him in lobbying for change.

"If players don't look after themselves, noone else will," he told The Australian newspaper.

Richardson, 37, said the added responsibilities of captaincy had led to many skippers suffering form slumps they wouldn't have had before, and that some duties should be shared by other players.

"Captains these days are suffering and realising how difficult it is," he said. "Most captains these days seem to have a slump in either their bowling or batting.

"Authorities need to review their role and give them more opportunity to improve their own game, rather than the off-field activities. "

Richardson, who still captains English club side Lashings, is in Australia to promote Internet gambling as the representative of Intertops. com.

He told the paper such a review may minimise the need for selectors having to decide whether captains should be dropped or not, an issue that faced the Australian selectors when Taylor suffered an extended loss of form.

"I think anybody can be dropped if they are not playing well but you must base it on why he is failing," he said.

"In a lot of American sports, players have more assistance from the coach and others on the team. In cricket, the captain does everything. When I took over, I was captain, coach, psychologist . . . everything. "

He also had some explanations for the West Indies slump since the retirement of Viv Richards, saying the players had become despondant.

"A lot of people didn't see that," he said. "A lot of people blamed me for the decline, which started while Viv was captain. When you lose a number of great players you're going to have a a bit of a slump. "

Some players had become too involved with the media and believed everything they read.

"You can't play with guys who don't believe in themselves. The guys mentally have not been right and not confident enough to back themselves," he said, adding that there was enough talent in the West indies side to be competitive but a new training structure needed to be instituted.

"You need to be preparing them long before they get into the side. "

He also believed the game was not being promoted well enough in the Caribbean with other sports appealing more to the younger generation.

What will Sri Lanka do without Murali? This question has been posed several times over in the recent past and the plain answer is "They will be helpless".

At the Galle International Stadium today, champion off-spinner Muttiah Muralitharan came up with a brilliant bowling performance taking 6 for 125 off 53.3 overs to bring Sri Lanka back into contention in the first Test against the West Indies, when at one time, it looked as the game would be taken away from them.

In 13 and a half overs, Muralitharan snaffled five batsmen for just 21 runs including the wicket of batting maestro Brian Lara as West Indies, with prospects of achieving a total in excess of 500 crashed to 448 all out, 64 minutes after lunch.

In fact, West Indies who went to lunch at 409 for four with Lara going strong on 167, lost their last six wickets for a mere 25 runs as Muralitharan, with some excellent left-arm support from Chaminda Vaas made inroads into the West Indies batting.

Sri Lanka in reply lost Sanath Jayasuriya for a quick 25 made off 19 balls before he slashed at Mervyn Dillon to cover points hands. But Marvan Atapattu (46) and Kumar Sangakkara (27) consolidated to take the total to 103 for one by the close, brought forward by 25 minutes due to bad light. It was Lara's dismissal at 423 that sparked off the West Indies collapse.

Muralitharan finally had his man top edging a sweep at 178 and wicket-keeper Kumar Sangakkara coming off with a superb one-handed take in front of the stumps. From there onwards it was a procession of batsmen crossing each other on the field as they succumbed to the wiles of Muralitharan and the left-arm pace of Vaas. As much as Muralitharan, Vaas also bowled well although his final figures of 4 for 96 doesn't actually reveal his contribution on a pitch which is still good for batting.

"Apart from Vaas and me, no one did bowl really well. If they bowled well it would have taken off my heavy job load. In the Indian series the fast bowlers took wickets and it was made easy for me," said Muralitharan after his marathon bowling performance.

"I always enjoyed bowling because I am picked in the side for it. I always think my job is to bowl and if the captain ask me to bowl 40 overs I will do it." "I enjoyed the challenge of bowling to a world class batsman like Lara because he is such a wonderful player. I rate him as one of the best in the world along with Sachin (Tendulkar). Andy Flower is another good player of spin. Unlike other players, Lara doesn't have any restrictions, he can play all round the wicket. It is always a challenge to bowl to him," said Muralitharan.

"I always come up with a plan against such batsmen. I know the batsman has to make only one mistake and I will get him. I can make many mistakes and still get his wicket," he said.

Muralitharan said it was a very good spell of bowling, but initially Lara, Hooper and Sarwan played really well on a good batting track. "I think this the best batting pitch we had at Galle in the last seven Tests here. We thought if we can get Hooper and Lara out, we have only the inexperienced batsmen coming through and we can get the wickets. But unfortunately, Lara got a big one hundred," he said.

Muralitharan said although the wicket was still good for batting, a winning result was still possible on it. "I think it will start to turn after the third day and it is going to be a lot harder to bat on. If you really spin the ball, it is going to spin a long way on the fourth and fifth days," said Muralitharan.

West Indies could be thankful that Muralitharan was not bowling at his best on the first day when they rattled off 316 for three wickets. "On the first day my rhythm was quite not there, but on the second day when I came on it was coming really nice and it got better and better as the day went by," said Muralitharan, who had ice packs kept on his bowling arm to overcome a sore shoulder after trying to do some weights shortly before the team left for Sharjah.

The Sri Lankan spin champion's final figures of six for 125 was the 29th occasion he had taken five wickets or more in a Test innings in his 66-Test career.

Lara made 178, his 16th Test century, in 361 minutes facing 293 balls and hitting 19 fours.

Until his dismissal Lara batted with absolute control completing his 150 with a splendid cover drive off newcomer Buddhika Fernando. It took him 303 minutes and 239 balls and comprised 17 fours.

But soon afterwards he lost his captain Carl Hooper for 69 when Muralitharan achieved the only success for Sri Lanka in the morning. In his third over of the day, Muralitharan held on to a hot drive from Hooper off his own bowling to end a record fourth wicket partnership of 153 in three hours. The previous best was also between the same pair of 97 at St. Vincent in 1996-97.

Hooper faced 120 balls and hit seven fours in his knock which ended 26 minutes before the lunch break.

Muralitharan then came back to bowl Marlon Samuels for 16 to leave West Indies at 434 for six. Vaas then picked up the wickets of Ridley Jacobs who was caught behind for eight and Mervyn Dillon who edged a catch to Jayasuriya at first slip at five as West Indies slid to 448 for eight. At the same total Muralitharan cleaned up the tail by sending back Neil McGarrell for five caught off bat and pad by Arnold at silly point and Colin Stuart bowled for a duck without offering a shot.

It was a fine comeback by Sri Lanka after a pretty ordinary first day when they conceded 316 runs for a meagre reward of just three wickets.

World Double Record Holder and West Indies star batsman is determined to make a lot more runs following his 117 not out on the first day of the test match , between Sri lanka and the West Indies.

"The coach asked me what I want to do in this series and I told him that I want to make plenty of runs and spend a lot of time in the middle," said Lara at the end of the day.

"I think it is very important to keep scoring and the competition within the side is greater than what it has been in the years gone by. The young players like Chris Gayle, Ramnaresh Sarwan and Daren Ganga are special and batting with them brings out the best in me," said Lara.

"I have been working on a few things in the last six weeks since I returned. I am looking to try and play a bit straight and show the full face of the bat. It is nice to go out there, work on something, and eventually get the results.,"noted Lara.

"Hopefully, I can go on to get something bigger. It has certainly set the tone for me. It's a very good batting track and someone has got to use the opportunity to play his shots. I'm very happy now, but I am going to come back tomorrow and look for something really big," Lara said.

Commenting on his partner Sarwan, Lara said: "He is a very classy player and he has got a lot of centuries to score. I think that before this series is done we will see him get his first Test century. He likes spin bowling and he is used to playing in similar conditions in Guyana". As much as Sri Lanka bowled and fielded badly, luck was also not with them with the West Indies being awarded a bonus of five penalty runs to their total when a sweep by Lara off Muralitharan saw the ball go behind the wicket-keeper and hit the fielder's helmet placed behind him. It was the second instant in Test cricket that such an incident had occurred. The first also involved the West Indies against South Africa at Georgetown in March this year.

"Muralitharan is a very good bowler and I think you have to keep him thinking,"declared Lara

"He is going to keep you under pressure if you just look to stay there, so I think you need to keep scoring. Early on I choose to use the sweep and it worked out well for me. It's a great competition between us and I appreciate his ability to bowl off-spin. He is something special in world cricket," said Lara

According to Lara, West Indies are in a very good position. "We need to get 500-600 runs and put Sri Lanka under pressure. We cannot allow them to get back into the game. Hopefully the wicket will crumble, as we are now playing three spinners. The longer we stay out there the better," he said.

The highly gifted left-hander mixed caution with aggression as he took West Indies to a first day total of 316 for three wickets after Carl Hooper had won an important toss for his side and decided to bat first on a grassless and dry pitch which is expected to start breaking up by the third day. Hooper was unbeaten on 34 at the close with Lara having added 76 runs for the fourth wicket in an unfinished partnership.

The day undoubtedly belonged to Lara who hit 12 fours in carving out his 16th Test century and his first for West Indies since scoring 182 against Australia at Adelaide in December 2000.

Lara completed his hundred by coming down the pitch to off-spinner Muttiah Muralitharan and hoisting him over mid-off for four. It was Lara's second century against Sri Lanka having scored 115 at St. Vincent in 1996-97.

THE cutaway was to a fellow in a Mac with a rhubarb-and-custard complexion, chewing on gum as if it were a journalist's liver. Unhinged, death-ray stare aimed in the general direction of the football pitch. A whoreson mad fellow - I tell you, if he sat next to you on the Brian Lara Promenade, you'd be off the location and on to Woodford Square in a dash. That individual would have been our former Scottish born national football coach.

At the start of the year, there was widespread optimism that Trinidad and Tobago would progress to the World Cup finals, despite the worse draw in history, of playing your first two matches away from home and your first home match against the then powerful Mexico team. As it was, we had one point after these three matches and we were NEVER able to recover despite all the positive remarks by football officials in the press.

What will stick with me for a long time (unless we qualify before I die), is the first match in Jamaica which I attended with Anil Roberts and Tony Lee, we were all surprised by the overwhelming support for Jamaica, it was a sea of gold, and the atmosphere was so intimidating and yet not threatening, that one felt that our players never understood what they were coming here for.

We lost that match although we should have at least earned a point. But afterwards on the return trip home, I sat down to talk with the coach and he was so casual and yet confident that his team could still qualify. In fact he was offended when I told him that people might call for his head after the defeat. This from a man with European links who understands how fickle a crowd and executive football board can be.

But of course he knew he was in good OLD third world base Trinidad and Tobago and nothing would be done to a foreigner until the entire pack of cards was stacked against him and until we had no more chance to qualify.

That to me is a sad indictment on those who control our football, that they waited to long, I am certain that with foresight, they would have made the change earlier. In a lot of people's mind, anyone would have been better.

Perhaps though we were fooled by the successes in 2000, with our semi-final placing in the Gold Cup, under Bertille St Clair and our performance in the qualifying rounds against Mexico and Canada. However in November when we saw it fit to send under strength teams to Mexico and also to oppose Panama with a weakened team, our game plan (if there was any) fell apart.

In all of this though the idea of asking our people to pay exorbitant prices to attend home matches in the variety of $100 and $200 was too much and caused even fewer people to attend than usual.

It also appeared that unlike Jamaica who have built their own office, where they have acquired a fearful record, Trinidad and Tobago could not decide whether we wanted to play at the Queens Park Oval or the Hasely Crawford Stadium for our matches thus eliminating any home advantage we could have had.

Similarly the performances of some of our professionals have to be questioned in particular, those of Dwight Yorke, Ronnie Mauge and Russel Lataphy. For whatever reason these players left the team when they were needed and while it can be argued that in the case of Yorke and Lataphy there were a number of circumstances, the question is does country come before self. In Lataphy's case, his fitness was not up to mark and it showed in matches, Yorke while certainly giving his all, was rusty from inactivity with Manchester United and many a time the coach's formation was against him.

We then witnessed a high standard Under 17 World tournament that drew large crowds at drastically reduced prices, yet still our team looked mediocre at best. The New technical director Rene Simoes has a lot on his plate, he will need to be a miracle worker for this team to reach as far in the Gold Cup as last year.

It is therefore important that we give him our full support, both in terms of finance and public support. We have to believe otherwise why would we all rise in the morning. Better can come, even if it takes some time.