BRIDGETOWN, Barbados, CMC – West Indies manager Joel “Big Bird” Garner has urged Caribbean fans to throw their full support behind the regional squad as they prepared for the Super Eight, second round of the World Twenty20 Championship.
The former Test pacer said yesterday that partisan support was always crucial to a home team’s support.
“It would be good for the people to come out and support the cricket,” Garner told CMC Sports.
“When you play away from home in places like Australia, it is partisan to the point that you have to worry about the opposition.
“When I say the opposition I mean their fans. They are the 12th, 13th and 14th man. They are very vocal.”
West Indies reached the second round of the tournament when they beat England in exciting fashion on Monday in Guyana, after rain intervened forcing the match to be decided under the Duckworth/Lewis Method.
They had opened their account on the first day of the tournament last Friday when they crushed Ireland by 70 runs.
Garner, who played 58 Tests between 1977 and 1987, said he was satisfied with the effort the team had made and the level of application during the tricky preliminary stage.
“The players understand that it takes a lot of hard work,” said Garner, also a West Indies Cricket Board director and the Barbados Cricket Association president.
“You have to be consistent. If we keep getting some consistency right away through the entire team, batting, bowling, fielding, I don’t see why we can’t make it right the way through to the finals.”
