Ottis Gibson looking forward to tour of Sri Lanka ahead of World Cup
West Indian coach, Ottis Gibson, hopes that his team would make full use of their three match ODI series against http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Sri-Lanka-c758, which takes place on the eve of the World Cup, set to be played in the subcontinent from the 19th of next month.
The series was originally scheduled for last year yet torrential rains all across the tear drop island severely affected the preparations of the two teams. There was no guarantee of rains subsiding during the course of the remaining matches hence the series
was postponed for the end of January.
The three matches would now be played on the 31st of January, 3rd February and 6th February. All three games would be held at the Singhalese Sports Club (SSC) Ground in Colombo.
Gibson stated that the series was an ideal opportunity for his team to hone its skills ahead of the World Cup where the two time champions http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Bangladesh-c747.
"It is a good opportunity to put some of the plans in place that we are going to take into the World Cup", Gibson said. "When we went for the Test series we did really well as a team and we made progress. We also had a chance to get used to the conditions.
The players are fresh out of the Caribbean Twenty20 and are ready for what we have coming up".
The West Indians have disappointed greatly in recent editions of the World Cup, they won the first two tournaments in 1975 and 1979 yet the last time they made it to the semi-finals was in the 1996 edition, which was also staged in the Indian subcontinent.
Gibson thinks that his team can topple the best in the business. He added that they have the ability of beating any team on its day.
The team from the Caribbean is helped by the format of the tournament, the top four teams from both groups are to take part in the quarter-finals and one good performance from there can give them a chance of appearing in the tournament pre-finals.
"I think we have a team that can win the World Cup", he said. "We will go there with the expectation of doing very well and putting ourselves in a position where we can reach the semi-finals, which is a very realistic possibility. We are not listed among
the favourites and that could work in our favour".
The West Indian squad for the tournament is led by all-rounder Darren Sammy, who impressed with his leadership skills in his first outing, which was the ill-fated Test series in Sri Lanka.
All three games were affected by rain yet Sammy gave glimpses of his abilities by making his young squad fight through some tough situations.
He would be hoping to continue in the same vein in the ODI series, similarly Gibson wants his troops to acclimatize themselves with the conditions and make a game plan that would be suitable to the conditions.
The slow turning tracks in the subcontinent are not easy for the batsmen to adjust to, hence the Colombo games are an ideal platform for the likes of Chris Gayle, Darren Bravo, Dwayne Bravo, Shivnarine Chanderpaul and Kieron Pollard to find their form and
propel their team to success in the tournament.
Squad: Darren Sammy (capt), http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Russell-c87177, Ramnaresh Sarwan, Devon Smith.
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