Windies great Curtly Ambrose labelled the current crop “pathetic” and “embarrassing” following their abject innings-and-209-run defeat to England in the series opening day-night Test.
Geoffrey Boycott and Michael Vaughan were also quick to lament the state of Windies cricket, with the difference in class stark as England wrapped up victory inside three days.
Law was saddened by the criticism of ex-bowling coach Ambrose but the Australian acknowledged the only way to silence the doubters is to improve on their display in the second Test at Headingley, which gets under way on Friday.
The Windies are huge 20/1 underdogs with Sky Bet to claim victory in Leeds, with England 1/8 and the draw 7/1.
The Windies coach said: “That is disappointing, Curtly not long ago was the coach of this team so it is disappointing that criticism comes. We have to understand why it is there. We are not performing as well as we want.
“It would have been nice if he had come into the dressing room to talk to the guys and express his displeasure to us. That would have been awesome but that didn’t happen. What can we do? We have to get our noses down, our backsides up and play better.
“I believe in these young men. They have got high skills. It is just the experience of learning how to play in a very tough environment.
“That is where we need to improve very quickly but that is going to take time.
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“The criticism will come. I understand that, we can’t do much about it. We have to just blank it out, move forward and once we start putting things right on the field, that criticism means nothing to us.”
Law was heartened by the counter-attacking resolve of diminutive batsman Jermaine Blackwood, whose flashy 79 not out in the first innings was a rare highlight on a day where the Windies lost 19 wickets to go 1-0 down in the three-match series.
“He played his role beautifully,” Law added. “He showed a beautiful solid defence and hit the bad ball away, we can’t ask much more.
“It would be nice if his attitude went through the group and people who talk to Blacky know he has got something about him.
“He is only 5ft 2in but he walks around like he is 10 foot tall and that is the sort of attitude that really warms my heart. Hopefully it is infectious in the group.”
Law refused to discuss Boycott reportedly telling a Q&A session in Birmingham over the weekend that he would stand a better chance of getting knighted if he were to “black me face” and that knighthoods among former Windies players were handed out like “confetti”.
Boycott has unreservedly apologised for his remarks but asked for his opinion on the incident, Law simply replied: “I don’t want to talk about Boycott. No comment.”
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