Ottis Gibson hails spirit in West Indian camp as hosts aim to win Test series at St. Kitts
West Indian coach, Ottis Gibson is extremely happy with the performance of his team in the first Test against Pakistan. The former pace bowler has hardly enjoyed success with the senior team, thus the win against all odds at a challenging
wicket at Guyana has made his happy.
The hosts scrapped home after they were forced on the back foot for many parts of the match, yet the bowling attack made full use of a wearing attack to send the visitors packing to scores of 160 and 178 in the two innings.
Pakistan lost the match by 40 runs, owing to the batting collapses in two innings, and Gibson thinks that the relentless pressure applied by the bowling attack of his team led to the downfall of the visitors, who were caught unaware
by the wicket at the Providence, which posed a big challenge to the players from both teams who had brittle batting line-ups.
He singled out Captain Darren Sammy and debutant Devendra Bishoo as the architects of the win along with fast bowler Ravi Rampaul, who according to cricketing experts bowled a searing spell at the start of the second Pakistani innings,
which was reminiscent of the hay days of West Indian cricket.
"For Sammy, who was under so much pressure, to perform the way he did was a credit to him and the way he goes about his work. He's an honest worker and a hard trier," Gibson said. "Bishoo came in and did a great job with the ball.
He's a keen, hungry, young cricketer who just wants to get better and do great things for the http://www.senore.com/Cricket/West-Indies-c760."
However, the former pacer stated that his team was not done yet and they had their focus on the task ahead; the West Indians would be playing a grueling series against the world’s top ranked Test team, http://www.senore.com/Cricket/India-c750, after the Pakistan series.
For the time being, the immediate target for Gibson is to try and back up the victory with another strong performance in the second Test match, which starts in three days time at the new test centre in St. Kitts.
Gibson thinks that his team has the capability of winning the series against http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Pakistan-c755 and long before the arrival of the Asians in the Caribbean, the team management and Board officials had marked the series as a revival of West Indian
cricket, that has been plunged in disarray for the last few years.
"Long before the Pakistanis arrived we spoke about the belief in the team that we could win the series. We want to win in St Kitts and take the series. Before Sunday's result it was more than two years since we won a Test match and
a series," added Gibson.
If the West Indians win the second test, they would complete a whitewash on a major Test team for the first time in the last two decades or so. Ever since the fall of the great team of the 70s, 80 and the early 90s, the West Indians have struggled to make
an impact against major Test playing nations.
In fact it was Pakistan that first whitewashed them in a series played in Pakistan in 1997 when all three Tests went in the favour of the hosts, the series marked the end of the Caribbean reign of Test match cricket, and there would not be a better way to
avenge that than by recording a win at St. Kitts and a subsequent series whitewash.
Tags: