CAVE HILL, Barbados – Tino Best is looking to give it his best shot and take West Indies all the way when he lines up in the upcoming ICC Champions Trophy. The fiery fast bowler, who first played for the Windies a decade ago, made a successful return to international cricket last year after several seasons in the wilderness and is looking to continue his resurgence.
"I have been playing some decent one-day cricket. I had a decent tour of Australia and I did pretty well against the Zimbabweans when we returned from Australia. I’m very happy and excited to be part of the Champions Trophy," Best said.
"I believe our chances are as good as any other team in the competition. We have some amazing talent in our dressing room. It is really exciting to play alongside such a talented group of players and I’m relishing the opportunity to do well for the people of the region."
Best added: "I’m about 80 percent and loading…I don’t want to go too hard in the camp and then when the tournament comes I’m tired. I want to hit the tournament at 100 percent and bowling rapid (pace)."
The 31-year-old was speaking on Wednesday after players held a full training session at the Sagicor High Performance Centre at the 3Ws Oval, under the guidance of Head Coach Ottis Gibson.
The camp started on Monday and will end on Friday. The team will depart from Barbados on Saturday and have another camp in Cardiff, Wales from May 25 to June 2 as they try to get acclimatised to the foreign conditions.
Best said he is eagerly looking forward to playing in the United Kingdom where he did well last year. During the Test series against England he made a world-record 95 batting at Number 11.
He said will arrive full of confidence based on the brilliant showing in Sri Lanka last October when they won the ICC World T20 Championship.
"Last summer was amazing. To come back into the Test team and do so well felt really good and gave me the confidence to kick on and do even better. I’m looking forward to playing in England once again. Once we play as unit as we did in Sri Lanka, I think we will do very well again. It is not a one-man show," Best noted.
The ICC Champions Trophy will feature eight teams: Australia, England, India, New Zealand, Pakistan, South Africa, Sri Lanka and West Indies. The tournament will be played across three venues – Cardiff Wales Stadium, Edgbaston and The Oval – from June 6-23.
The Windies have been drawn in Group B alongside the Indians, the Pakistanis and the South Africans. They open against Pakistan on Friday, June 7 at the Oval and return to the famous venue on Tuesday, June 11 to take on India. The final preliminary match will be against the Proteas on Friday, June 14 in Cardiff.
FULL SQUAD
Dwayne Bravo (Captain)
Denesh Ramdin (Vice Captain/Wicketkeeper)
Tino Best
Darren Bravo
Johnson Charles
Chris Gayle
Jason Holder
Sunil Narine
Kieron Pollard
Ravi Rampaul
Kemar Roach
Darren Sammy
Marlon Samuels
Ramnaresh Sarwan
Devon Smith
TEAM MANAGEMENT
Ottis Gibson (Head Coach)
Richie Richardson (Team Manager)
Toby Radford (Assistant Coach)
Andre Coley (Assistant Coach)
C.J. Clark (Physiotherapist)
Hector Martinez Charles (Strength & Conditioning Coach)
Richard Berridge (Video & Statistical Analyst)
Philip Spooner (Media Manager)
Virgil Browne (Massage Therapist)
MATCH SCHEDULE
Pre-tournament warm-up matches
Saturday, June 1: vs Australia at Cardiff (day/night)
Tuesday, June 4: vs Sri Lanka at Edgbaston
Preliminary matches Group B
Friday, June 7: vs Pakistan at the Oval
Tuesday, June 11: vs India at the Oval
Friday, June 14: vs South Africa at Cardiff
Semi-finals:
Wednesday, June 19: at the Oval
Thursday, June 20: at Cardiff
FINAL: Sunday, June 23 at Edgbaston