Dubai: Having lost the T20 series to Pakistan, the West Indies ODI team is determined to reverse the results in the forthcoming three-match OODI series which begins at the Sharjah Cricket Stadium on September 30.
The T20 World champions have been putting in some hard work at the ICC Cricket Academy in Dubai while players who underwent their training in Barbados with the West Indies A squad, have arrived in the Emirates to reinforce the squad.
Among them are Kraig Brathwaite, a promising 23-year-old opening batsman, 19-year-old pacer Alzarri Joseph, off-spinner Ashely Nurse and veteran left-arm spinner Sulieman Benn.
Veteran wicketkeeper batsman Denesh Ramdin who has been in top form against Australia and South Africa in the triangular held in June.
Ramdin, who has been a part of the Windies team for the last 11 years, knows what is takes to beat Pakistan in their adopted home country in the UAE.
“They have a good batting line-up, good bowlers and we need to bring our A game and give them a fight,” he said,
He also knows the first task his batsmen face is to counter Pakistan’s bowling-attack.
“They are going to come with a lot of spin so in the middle overs it is going to be very important for us to get through that,” he said. “They have some good seam bowlers upfront too. So, allround, we need to play really well to beat them here in the UAE.”
The second OODI will also be held in Sharjah on October 2 with the third scheduled for Abu Dhabi’s Zayed Cricket Stadium on October 5.
Ramdin boast strong form having scored 91 against Australian in the triangular in June.
“We need to play similar cricket like we played in the Caribbean during the triangular,” said Ramdin.
The West Indies team is led by 24-year-old Jason Holder, who wants his players to learn from their mistakes and keep performing well.
“In the ODI series we want to improve more,” he said. “We had a very good last Tri series with Australia and South Africa so it is important we keep improving and then we deal with the Test series at the very end. Obviously we need to improve and we are coming off a tough series against India and are we just looking to make amends,”
