Warm Up II : West Indies vs England

WEST INDIES’ performance in their defeat by nine wickets to England in Monday’s World Cup warm-up match in Sydney has been roundly criticised by the British media. Their casual attitude and Chris Gayle’s absence from the field when England batted were highlighted in several reports. “It is hardly an exaggeration to say there was more urgency among the West Indies players when a fire alarm caused an evacuation of the Sydney Cricket Ground on Monday than at any time in a woefully one-sided contest,” Paul Newman wrote in the Daily Mail. He added: “Chris Gayle, for one, was forced into his first real exercise of the day in hurriedly leaving the SCG after a World Cup warm-up in which he was dismissed first ball then failed to take the field as England cantered to a nine-wicket win. The emergency turned out to be false, but alarm bells must be ringing for West Indies.”