CRICKET WEST INDIES

The batsmen have been told “not to go into a shell” while the bowlers have been asked to “maintain the good work and strive for better” as they look for that all important “tick” in the win column and draw level in the three-match series.
 

First ball is 9 am (11.30 pm Sunday Eastern Caribbean Time/10.30 pm Jamaica Time).
 

The advice came from skipper Darren Sammy, who had a good first Test with the ball taking five wickets, and is now at Number 24 in the ICC Test match bowling rankings. The stand-out performer for the Windies was batting stalwart Shiv Chanderpaul who made 118 -- his 24th Test century -- and 47 which moved him to Number 6 in the batting table.
 

“The way Chanderpaul batted, got a hundred, showed when you are positive to spin, it is effective. The team should look to do that more often... show them the respect they deserve, but look to not go into our shell. We let them dictate too much to us and it took the experience of Chanderpaul to show us how to play on the pitch. We hope to take a page out of his book and execute it,” Sammy said.

 

“During the series in the West Indies as well, we pointed out that we can’t let spinners dictate to us. So often, a guy comes and settles into his bowling. We will look to counter-attack, but also be more selective because it is Test cricket and we still need to bat time.”
 

The 27-year-old added: “Before the start of the series we had said we will play fearless cricket. Despite the result, we did, basically control the first two days of the first Test, it took a lot of experience from that Indian batting line-up to bounce back. The camp is not down, we still have the belief that once again we could win the key moments of the game and win the match.”
 

Turning to the bowling, Sammy said it would be good to get a pitch offering a lot of bounce and carry. The surface, at the historic ground which holds close to 70,000 spectators, has some grass but Sammy said he did not anticipate that would be a “fast bowler’s paradise”.
 

“I would love to see the ball passing by the batsman’s neck, but in India, we know what we expect to get. We showed we had the belief, the method of working out the batsmen. Playing fearless cricket means that we are not going to back down whether we are bowling to Sachin or Ishant,” Sammy said.
 

“We can be more disciplined in line, make them hit good deliveries for fours. In that spirit, we created opportunities.”
 

West Indies Squad: Darren Sammy (captain), Adrian Barath, Carlton Baugh, Devendra Bishoo, Kraigg Brathwaite, Darren Bravo, Shiv Chanderpaul, Fidel Edwards, Kirk Edwards, Kieran Powell, Denesh Ramdin, Ravi Rampaul, Kemar Roach, Marlon Samuels, Shane Shillingford

Team Management Unit: Ottis Gibson (Head Coach),  Richie Richardson (Team Manager), David Williams (Assistant Coach), Desmond Haynes (Batting Consultant), C.J Clark (Physiotherapist), Hector Martinez-Charles (Strength & Conditioning Co-ordinator), Richard Berridge (Video & Statistical Analyst), Philip Spooner (Media Manager), Virgil Browne (Massage Therapist), Courtney Browne (Selector on Tour)

 

 

November 14-18: 2nd Test at Eden Gardens, Kolkata

November 22-26: 3rd Test at Wankhede Stadium, Mumbai

 

November 29: 1st ODI at Barabati Stadium, Cuttack

December 2: 2nd ODI at Dr YSR Reddy ADA-VDCA Stadium, Visakhapatnam

December 5: 3rd ODI at Sardar Patel Gujarat Stadium, Ahmedabad

December 8: 4th ODI at Holkar Stadium, Indore

December 11: 3rd ODI at MA Chidambaram Stadium, Chennai