Kandy, Sri Lanka – The West Indies were kept indoors on Tuesday as the team’s preparations for the 3rd ERI Test match against Sri Lanka were hampered by heavy, afternoon rain in Kandy.
This however did not dampen the spirits and Head Coach Ottis Gibson indicated his team will be ready for Wednesday’s start of the match at the new Pallekele Stadium in this central Sri Lankan city.
First ball in the decisive Test is 10 am (12.30 am Eastern Caribbean Time/11.30 Tuesday Jamaica Time).
“There is not much that you can do about the weather. We came here hoping to start reconstruction of West Indies cricket and this tour has given us that opportunity,” Gibson said on Tuesday.
“Everyone has remained focussed on the job at hand and we know once we get play this week what will be required. It’s tough, but we’ve been managing well and staying focussed still with all the rain and everything going on.”
The Windies have all to play for. The Series is level 0-0 after draws at the Galle International Stadium and the R Premadasa International Cricket Stadium.
At Galle, Chris Gayle made a monumental 333 – his second triple century in Test cricket. At Colombo, pacer Kemar Roach took 5 for 100 – to move to 10 wickets for the series.
Gibson is confident the players can deliver again in the final Test.
“To win the series is massive for us especially in the subcontinent. To be in with a chance of winning here still is exciting and all the players are aware of that. At the same time we have not won a lot of series either. We are still in with a chance,” the former West Indies allrounder said.
“We will be disappointed we didn’t get to play a lot of cricket. At the end of the day we are cricketers and we are here to play cricket. The way we played in the first Test excited us and we wanted to continue and play more cricket. The second Test we didn’t play very well and this is an opportunity to win a series away from home,” Gibson commented.
Play well windies. Looking for a win!!