WEST Indies coach Ottis Gibson believes England have earned the right to rest their best players – because they are winning. England will be without Stuart Broad, Graeme Swann and Tim Bresnan for the final match of the NatWest one-day international series in Headingley today, after they were given the game off with their side holding an unassailable 2-0 series lead.
“They are winning so they can afford to rest people,” Gibson said.
“We’re trying to avoid losing 3-0 so everybody will be available. We don’t have the luxury of resting players. You don’t rest people when you are losing. The English system has been a well-oiled machine for some time now and it’s the envy of the world, let’s be honest.
“They are the top team in the world and they have the luxury of being able to rest players and it’s a credit to them and all the people that work behind the scenes. They are the number one team in Test cricket, they have an abundance of talent and good players and they can rest a few players and bring a few in and for them, it’s all good.
“For us it’s just trying game after game to get the right balance to try and win a game. We lost 2-0 in the Test series and we certainly don’t want to lose 3-0 in the one-day series.”
West Indies had begun the series with plenty of optimism following the return of star opener Chris Gayle – who is a doubt again with an ongoing ankle complaint – and having just drawn their previous series with the world’s top side Australia.
Convincing defeats in both games so far have meant a familiar sense of under-achievement has again engulfed this West Indies team, who face a battle not to return home winless with just Sunday’s Twenty20 in Nottingham to follow.
“We’re playing cricket in England against a very good English side,” Gibson said. “Yes, on paper we’ve got the makings of a great side with Chris coming back and (Dwayne) Bravo and (Kieron) Pollard and the form they have shown in the IPL and so on.
England have just been that little step ahead of us all the time. We’ve just been a little off the pace.”