Perth, March 3: Legendary former West Indies captain Clive Lloyd dismissed suggestions that the Caribbean side has become overly dependent on explosive opener Chris Gayle and were missing regular faces like Kieron Pollard and Dwayne Bravo from the middle-order.

World Cup Special

Lloyd said while Gayle was a key member of the Windies batting department, the team was blessed with good talent which allowed them to bat deep, reports CMC.

"Before the Zimbabwe game, Gayle hadn't really contributed. It's great whenever we get a good start with him. He scores rather quickly. He's a very strong player. Whenever he takes off, it gives the team a good impetus," said Lloyd, the current chairman of selectors.

"We have a formidable side. We bat to eight or nine, everybody from one to nine has done extremely well, posted big scores. I don't think we have any problem there (in the middle-order). Once we bat to our potential, we will do extremely well."

The left-handed Gayle blasted a World Cup-record 215 against Zimbabwe in Canberra recently to end a slump which had seen him with just one half-century in 20 months and an average of 14.

So far, the West Indies have lost to Ireland by four wickets, beat Pakistan by 150 runs, defeated Zimbabwe by 73 runs but went down to South Africa by 257 runs in their four World Cup matches. They next face India in their fifth encounter at the WACA on Friday.

Despite their recent struggles, Lloyd held out hope for the Caribbean side, especially in the fast bowling area, noting that the results would be seen soon.

"It's quite obvious (the pace reserves have declined). We'd love to have (Andy) Roberts, (Michael) Holding, (Curtly) Ambrose and (Courtney) Walsh but it doesn't happen in any other country. We've had a little bit of a decline but we have one or two young players coming through and you'll hear about them in another year or so," he said.

IANS