Canberra, Australia – It’s a long way from the Caribbean to Australia, but the West Indies players have settled in very well after their voyage from home. Head Coach Ottis Gibson believes his players will adjust to the conditions as they prepare for the upcoming series, which will include five One-Day Internationals and a one-off T20 International.
"We’re hoping we can hit the ground running. We’ve just come out of a tournament (Caribbean T20) at home so everyone has been playing cricket and the guys have shown good form. We believe we’ve got a good mix of some young players and some very experienced players," said Gibson, who took over the job in March, 2010.
"We are the T20 World Champions and we are proud of what we achieved in that tournament, but that doesn’t put any added pressure on the team. Hopefully with that victory and what we achieved more people come and watch us."
He added: "It’s something we have to move on from and think about moving up the ladder in One-Day cricket and getting ourselves in the mix with the best teams in the world. We believe we’re a top team, but we now have to show it with the way we play."
The West Indies will have their first tour assignment when they face the Australia Prime Minister’s XI, to be captained by Ricky Ponting, in a day/night contest at Munaka Oval. A capacity crowd of around 12,000 is expected for the first international day/night match at the ground. First ball is 2:20 pm (11:20 pm Monday Eastern Caribbean Time/10:20 pm Monday Jamaica Time).
"This is our one opportunity for preparation and it gives us a good chance to get some practice. We’re looking forward to it and we want to entertain the Prime Minister with a full ground and hopefully we put on a good show. But the main aim is to get our preparation right for the One-Day Series which begins in Perth on Friday," said Gibson.
Asked about the Australian side, Gibson simply responded: "I don’t know if they’re vulnerable…we try not to get caught up in that though, we’re just gearing for five tough One-Day International games and a tough T20 to come."
SQUAD:
Darren Sammy (Captain)
Dwayne Bravo (Vice Captain)
Tino Best
Darren Bravo
Johnson Charles
Narsingh Deonarine
Chris Gayle
Jason Holder
Sunil Narine
Kieron Pollard
Kieran Powell
Kemar Roach
Andre Russell
Ramnaresh Sarwan
Devon Thomas
Schedule of matches
January
Tuesday 29: vs Prime Minister’s XI – Manuka Oval, Canberra
February
Friday 1: 1st One-Day International – WACA, Perth
Sunday 3: 2nd One-Day International – WACA
Wednesday 6: 3rd One-Day International – Manuka Oval
Friday 8: 4th One-Day International – SCG, Sydney
Sunday 10: 5th One-Day International – MCG, Melbourne
Wednesday 13: T20 International – The Gabba, Brisbane