Daughter inspired http://www.senore.com/Cricket/DR-Smith-c1401 to play match-winning knock - Cricket News Update
West Indies opening batsman, Dwayne Smith, has credited his match winning knock in the second T20 against Australia to his six year-old daughter, Niyesha.
The 28-year-old hard-hitting top-order batsman from Barbados struck a blistering half century in the second T20 against http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Australia-c746 last Friday, as the hosts won the match by 14-runs to level the series 1-1. Speaking to the media reporters after the match,
Smith revealed that his daughter’s phone call moments before the match inspired him to go out and play a match winning knock.
"Before I came to the ground I called my daughter and she said, 'Daddy if you don't make runs don't come home'. When I was batting I was thinking about her and that conversation. She inspires me ... guess I can go home now," said Smith with a smile after
the match.
Australia had won the opening T20 at St Lucia convincingly by 8 wickets but the Windies rode on opener Smith’s whirlwind 63 off just 34 deliveries to win the match by 14 runs to level the series 1-1, on a day when most of the http://www.senore.com/Cricket/West-Indies-c760 were off-colour.
Among the rest of the line-up, only http://www.senore.com/Cricket/DJ-Bravo-c1379 showed some resilience to help the side reach a par score of 160. Eight of the Windies batsmen fell for single digits.
Smith said that playing a match winning knock in front of the home crowd was a great feeling.
“The winning feeling is great. It was good to do so well in front of my home fans in Barbados. They have always supported me and I wanted to repay that faith and that support," said http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Smith-c90598.
The Barbadian all-rounder, who has not played an ODI for West Indies since the World Cup last year, hoped Friday’s knock will help him regain a spot in the 50-over squad as well. Though his last Test appearance for the Windies had come back in 2006, Smith
said that he was focusing on the one-day format of the game.
"Right now I am focusing on my Twenty20 and also trying to get back into the 50-over side as well,” said the Barbadian left-armer.
Having levelled both the ODI and T20 series, the Caribbean side is now gearing up for a three-Test series against Australia, commencing in Bridgetown from April 7.
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