Caribbean News Now!

BRIDGETOWN, Barbados -- The West Indies players are in fine spirits and feeling on top of their game as they get ready for their first warm-up match on Thursday, at the 3Ws Oval at the Cave Hill Campus of the University of the West Indies. The Windies are preparing for the International Cricket Council’s T20 World Cup and will face Sagicor High Performance Centre, who are also preparing for a four-week tour of Bangladesh.

The West Indies will have a second warm-up match against Combined Campuses & Colleges under lights at 6 pm.

Speaking ahead of Thursday’s matches, West Indies assistant coach Toby Radford said the players plan to use the matches as “quality and proper” preparations and also to put into play some of the strategies and techniques they have been working on in the nets.

“We have worked hard in the gym – the fitness trainer really pushed them, pretty much doing some fitness every single day; and then we are in the nets, indoor nets, bowling machines, outdoor nets,” said Radford.

“We are where we want to be at this stage and we will look to use the two matches on Thursday to get some more work in. We aim to play the matches as we would when we hit the ground in Sri Lanka. We will play these matches with intensity and purpose and we know the lads at the HPC and CCC will do the same. Everything is gearing up to flying off on Sunday in good shape.”

Radford, a former head coach of the Sagicor High Performance Centre, added: “We did some match scenarios so we hope whatever situation we find ourselves in we will have the confidence to get through it. I’m sure by the end of the week everyone will have had an opportunity to perform and will be looking in tip-top shape for what will be a big tournament for us.”

The World T20 tournament, which features 12 teams, will be played from September 18 to October 7. The West Indies have been drawn in Group B alongside Australia and Ireland and both first round matches will be at the Premadasa Stadium in Colombo. Their opening match will be against the Aussies on Saturday, September 22 followed by a clash with the Irish on Monday, September 24.

Reads: 1894


Tweet