BRIDGETOWN, Barbados – West Indies will look to call the shots and continue their dominance over Zimbabwe when the two teams meet in the opening contest of the two-match Test Series on Tuesday at the historic Kensington Oval. First ball is 10 am (9 am Jamaica Time).
A victory over the visitors would make it five Test wins in a row for West Indies following last year’s triumphs over New Zealand in the Caribbean and overseas over Bangladesh.
West Indies beat New Zealand by nine wickets at the Vivian Richards Cricket Ground in Antigua last July and a week later won by five wickets at Sabina Park in Jamaica. Last November, they beat Bangladesh by 77 runs in Dhaka and then had an easy 10-wicket victory in Khulna.
Captain Darren Sammy is confident his team can maintain their stranglehold over the visitors. He warned against complacency and noted that the task of winning won’t be a easy. West Indies have won everything during the series so far. They completed a 3-0 clean sweep in the three One-Day Internationals at the Grenada National Stadium and then the World Champion side powered to a 2-0 results in the T20s at the Vivian Richards Cricket Ground.
“We’re ready…our preparations have been spot on and we believe we will get the upperhand over Zimbabwe. We have been very professional and disciplined in all we have done so far. We will look to continue the winning ways we had in the One-Day and T20 series,” Sammy said.
“The guys are coming in from playing four-day cricket so everyone should be settled and ready to take on the Zimbabweans. Kemar (Roach) and Marlon (Samuels) did not play in the last round of the Regional 4Day tournament but they played for the Sagicor High Performance Centre over the weekend so they got in their preparation as well.”
Sammy was speaking on Monday morning shortly before he and Zimbabwe skipper Brendan Taylor unveiled the Clive Lloyd trophy and the International Home Series 2013 trophy on the outfield in front the 3Ws Stand.
“The goal of the team is to win and make it five in a row. We won’t take Zimbabwe for granted but we know once go out and play the way we did in the last four Test matches we will be successful, but we won’t beat them by saying it. We have to go out and do it on the cricket field,” Sammy said.
“We have five days of cricket to win a Test match and we will look to do that. We have to go out and put in the good work. Whatever (pitch) we get we have to go out and do a thorough and professional job. We don’t really see fast and bouncy pitches in the Caribbean these days and we are used to working with what we have. The key is to be focussed and disciplined…go out and put in the performances to beat the Zimbabweans.”
WEST INDIES SQUAD
Darren Sammy (Captain)
Denesh Ramdin (Vice Captain)
Tino Best
Darren Bravo
Shivnarine Chanderpaul
Narsingh Deonarine
Shannon Gabriel
Chris Gayle
Veerasammy Permaul
Kieran Powell
Kemar Roach
Marlon Samuels
Shane Shillingford
Five wins in a row against New Zealand, Bangladesh and Zimbabwe. Yoo-hoo we are on our way up – NOT.
When we start beating the likes of Australia, SA and England, then we can start to celebrate. Beating up on opponents who hardly play any test cricket is no reason to rejoice.
Congrats to you Shane I know you will make us proud. I just find it is always convenient for the west indies board to choose Shane when they want us to full the stands so that the dollar bills can come rolling in. I just wish that they would choose Shane on his own merit. Thats just my two cents. Team Shane!!!
Dominica!
Once again, I see positive representation (Shane Shillingford) for our Island, let’s put the negaive political fued in the toilet, and glue to our Media sets and support our own. Another chance for Dominicans to share entertaining togetherness!
Go Shane Go! Make us Proud!