WELLINGTON, New Zealand, CMC- West Indies coach Ottis Gibson says he believes his team will fare better at home against Ireland and England under familiar conditions after disappointing tours to India and New Zealand.
England will play three Twenty20s, as well as three one-day internationals, in Antigua and Barbados from late February into March.
Ireland will take on West Indies in A limited-overs series – two T20 internationals and an ODI – in March following their involvement in the Super50 competition.
“I don’t think all is lost. We are missing a lot of key players and there are players who will come in and strengthen us in the next couple of weeks,” Gibson said.
“I’m looking forward to the mini-series versus Ireland, England next month and of course, the T20 World Cup”.
West Indies crashed to a number of lopsided defeats in tests ODIs and T20s on their tour of India and New Zealand and injuries kept mostly all of their frontline players out of action.
“We have lots of cricket to be played still. We’ll see how [Chris] Gayle is doing and there’s [Kemar] Roach and Ravi Rampaul to also come back,” he said.
“I’ll have a look to see how [Kieron] Pollard is doing also and we can look forward from there.”
The West Indies coach also listed Marlon Samuels, Darren Sammy and Darren Bravo as crucial absentees who would reinforce his unit once fit.
The Caribbean side ended their tour in dismal fashion Wednesday, crumbling by four wickets to New Zealand in the final of the two-match T20 series.
“They gave us a lesson in how to chase in this format,” he said.
“ We panicked and tonight the way Ross played, steadying the ship and then setting it up for somebody to come and play the way Ronchi did, he played a really good innings”
West Indies failed to convert as many as three opportunities on the field, including a botched attempt at running Ross Taylor out when he was only 5.
He added 34 more runs to his tally and was crucial in keeping the chase on track for New Zealand.
“We dropped a few catches in the field also but then the guys picked themselves up,” Gibson said.
“In the night, the weather turned, the temperature dropped – pretty uncomfortable temperature for us”
