Chris Gayle stresses need to get off to a winning start against New Zealand – Cricket News Update
West Indies’ star all-rounder http://www.senore.com/Cricket/CH-Gayle-c1221 has stressed the importance of the team’s upcoming T20 series against New Zealand, due to be held in the United States, claiming it is essential for the team to get off to a winning start on the tour.
“This is an important series ... It is a chance to get some wins under our belt as we look forward to the T20 World Cup,” said the 32-year-old.
“We are looking for a good start in these two T20 games before we move on to Jamaica for the start of the one-day series,” he added.
New Zealand’s current series has been dubbed a tour of United States of America and West Indies, owing to the fact that the ODIs and Tests due to be played in the Caribbean will be preceded by a 2-match T20 series, scheduled to take place at the Central Broward Regional Park Stadium Turf Ground in Lauderhill, Florida (for the purpose of promoting the sport in the http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Usa-c759).
Marking the second international series to be held at the venue, the pitch at Lauderhill has proved a point of concern, with the last two matches staged at the stadium (played between http://www.senore.com/Cricket/New-Zealand-c754) having turned out to be low-scoring affairs owning to the low, slow nature of the track (the Kiwis team total was 120 in the first match, and 81 in the second).
However, with the surface mirroring the tracks in the West Indies and proving conducive to spin, the team from the Caribbean will be looking to exploit their advantage, and finally achieve a victory at the international level, after having been defeated by http://www.senore.com/Cricket/England-c56013 earlier this year.
“The first game of any tour, of any series, is always important and hopefully ... we can get that kick-start that would be so vital no matter where in the world you are playing,” Gayle said.
The Jamaican all-rounder himself will be eager to get in some match-winning performances – he recently returned to the team after a hiatus of 15 months, and despite having performed exceptionally well in the Indian Premier League this year, has yet to make any substantial contributions to the team’s performances. Gayle has only played 2 matches for the http://www.senore.com/Cricket/West-Indies-c760 since his return to the squad so far, with a 53 being his highest score as yet.
Tags: