Sammy wants WI to live up to “favourites” tag

Southampton, England – Darren Sammy said he was surprised to learn that West Indies were favourites for their series of three One-day Internationals against England, which opens on Saturday at the Ageas Bowl here.

 

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But the Windies captain was confident his side can stop the hosts unbeaten run of five series wins at home.

"I’ve not heard favourites and the West Indies in the same sentence for a long time," said Sammy.

"England in England is always difficult. We’re not going to take it for granted.

"But we do believe as a team we should win this ODI series, and we’ve got to go out and play accordingly, smart and be consistent."

The Caribbean side had another full outdoor net session under sunny skies and the players also took advantage of the option of personal time in the indoor nets.

Sammy said coming up with a final 11 will be tough task because there was an abundance of talent in the side.

"It’s going to be a headache to select the first 11," he said. ". . .But whatever 11, we will be equally capable of winning the games.

"We’ve got some serious firepower in our line-up, but we’ve still got to be smart and play each ball on its merit. We’ve still got to rotate the strike and get the singles in between. But it’s still good to have all that firepower in one squad."

West Indies have not beaten a team ranked above them in an ODI series since they beat the same opponents five years ago.

Sammy said it was an important series for his side.

"We are very focussed on winning this series. . .and it would be good to manage all the distractions around us and focus on what we have to do – and that is going out there and putting in an excellent performance," he said.

Play starts at 10:45 a.m. British Standard Time (5:45 a.m. East Caribbean Time).