Australia in West Indies 2008

Dyson urges players to curb aggression

July 8, 2008

	'The first step is for the players to embrace the concept that we need to change some things about our game' © AFP

Dyson emphasised that his team would get no better unless they curbed their aggression and played with a more clinical approach. "The first step is for the players to embrace the concept that we need to change some things about our game," Dyson said. "Up until now, I don't think a lot of them have. We play the West Indies way. We bowl aggressively. We bat aggressively. We field aggressively.

"When you analyse what all that means, you start to realise that every now and then you win doing that, but against the better sides that approach it more clinically, it's not going to happen."

Dyson has enjoyed mixed results since taking over last year. The series defeat, including a massive 169-run loss in the final ODI, was among the lowest points in his tenure. In calling for his players to emulate the Australians, Dyson pointed to a few examples.

"Teams like Australia build pressure by bowling many dot balls. They make it very difficult to score," he said. "Since the South Africa tour, I've been told the West Indian way is not to do that. We are aggressive. We try and get people out. That's fine, but you see the result of that. We have some good days and we have some shockers.

"We have to accept that we need to change our approach to various things. The potential is there. We have some very talented players with lots of potential but to compete with teams at the top of the table, there are some changes that they need to accept they need to make to their game."

However, he cautioned that things can't change overnight. "I am not a magician. I can't just click my fingers and go . . . everything's done. Take the Australian side, look at Luke Ronchi's overall cricket CV and you will find that he had played a whole lot of good quality one-day cricket before getting here. He has been learning the basic skills for a long time. Unfortunately, we are getting players that have only played a handful of games in some cases."

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