Basseterre, St Kitts – West Indies will be looking to make it back-to-back wins over Pakistan when the two teams meet in the Second Digicel Test at Warner Park on Friday.
First ball is 10 am (9 am Jamaica Time).
Speaking after Thursday’s three-hour training session, skipper Darren Sammy said his side’s aim is to maintain the momentum they had from the 40-run victory in the First Digicel Test in Guyana.
"We’re confident. The victory was a boost in confidence for the guys. The belief in the team is improving and everybody believes that they can go out there and win against Pakistan. We celebrated our Test victory. Now we’re back at work and focusing on the second match," the 27-year-old Sammy said.
"We did the right things in Guyana and we will look to do the same things here in St Kitts. We bowled well as a bowling unit and in the batting we saw guys digging deep for the team. The Pakistan spinners gave us some trouble in Guyana and we know that is an area we have to get better at. We had intense training sessions on Wednesday and again today (Thursday) and we are ready for this match."
The win in Guyana was the home team’s first Test match win in more than two years. It has now set up the possibility for the Windies to have their first series win since March 2009 when they beat England 1-0 to win the Wisden Trophy. Sammy said the overall team goal is to move up the ICC Test Match rankings table. A win in the Second Digicel Test would be a giant step forward.
"As a team, when we met in Barbados before we departed for Sri Lanka last November, we had our plan for the next three years, where we want to be, and so far we’re working very hard in achieving that target," Sammy said.
"Moving up the rankings is definitely one of our team goals so we all know what’s at stake. We have that at the back of our minds, which will be motivation for the guys. Winning a series at home against a higher-ranked team would be a massive boost."
Sammy added: "All we are doing is for West Indies cricket. We are playing to win and we are playing to win for West Indies cricket. We have a good spirit in the team and we want to keep striving for better. That is why we have worked so hard in the nets to improve in all departments."