Larry Gomes sees hope for the West Indian team

When a batsman earns the tag of "Mr Dependable" in Clive Lloyd's all-conquering side of the 80s, among stalwart team-mates such as Gordon Greenidge, Desmond Haynes, Viv Richards and Lloyd himself, his stature is beyond question.

Larry Gomes now resides in Toronto and coaches the Overseas Cricket Club there, but he is a frequent flier between Toronto and Trinidad as his mother resides in the Caribbean island.

The long, curling hair is no more, so it was difficult to recognise him at first sight at the Queen's Park Oval. But when the interview began, it was unmistakably Gomes; the pride at being an indispensable part of Lloyd's side was evident.

Well, if you ask the older people here, you will get an idea about how attacking a batsman I was. But in our team, I had to play the role of anchor. Very often, I had to do the job of anchoring the innings since everyone else was, more or less, an attacking bat. So someone had to dig in, and I played that part. It was in the interest of the team, and I had fully enjoyed doing so.

We all were very proud to be a member of champion team. That sailed us through, and we were never distracted from our goal. I feel that county cricket had instilled some amount of professionalism in us. That professionalism was the key to our stupendous success. Nowadays, no West Indian cricketer plays in county cricket. They don't have the time either. But we benefited from our county experiences.

That is one thing I, or for that matter, any member of that side, can never forget. That was the biggest shock for us during our playing days. I still ask myself: How could we lose that match even after getting the opposition out for 183. I'll continue to do so till death. The tragedy will always be with me.

Yes, and that is the reason I always jokingly refer to this match (the 1983 World Cup final) whenever anybody from the newest generation of the media asks me about such things. Cricket's boundaries were limited to the cricketers and cricket-lovers only. This is a modern disease. We played cricket enjoying every day of our outings on the field and were eager first to prove that we were the best and then to defend that title.

See, Carl Hooper is doing a great job. You have the experience and exceptional talent of Brian Lara. Shivnarine Chanderpaul and Ramnaresh Sarwan are playing well too. The new boys are coming. This is the transition period for the team, and the time for combining has to be given to them. Yes, at the moment, the bowling is a bit weak. But with time, they will gro,w and I strongly feel that under the able captaincy of Hooper, they will bounce back.

Well, Caribbean cricket has given me everything. So I am ready to do anything for the betterment of the cricket here. Any day the call comes, I'll definitely be here.