COLOMBO, Sri Lanka, CMC- West Indies will attempt to rebound from a battering in the test series to prove that they are still a major force in One Day International cricket when they face Sri Lanka in the first of Three ODI’s here today.
Jason Holder’s men are fired-up from a thrilling come back in a practice match against a president’s X1 on Thursday and are keen on putting their two-nil loss in the test series behind them.
Holder has welcomed the return of spinner Sunil Narine as part of a Windies plot for middle overs domination.
“Very happy to have him back. He is a boost to anyone’s bowling line-up,” declared Holder.
“He is one of the world’s best bowlers and his figures and stats speak for themselves. Hopefully we can get him coming to the forefront in this series and leading our bowling attack”.
Narine, who is returning from a 14 month hiatus, has been forced to remodel his bowling action after he was twice reported for a suspect action.
During the World Cup campaign, West Indies had regularly taken wickets with the new ball but allowed the advantage to slip as opposition batsmen flourished.
South Africa amassed 408 against them in Sydney, before Martin Guptill’s 237 not bolstered New Zealand’s 393 in the quarter-final.
“We need to make the new ball count for us and once we get early wickets its makes things a little easier in the middle. In the past we have tend to let the game drift away from us,” said Holder.
“We have Sunil Narine now and that makes me a little more comfortable because he is a wicket taking option whenever he comes into bowl. So hopefully he can exploit some wickets in the middle and his pressure could create other wickets. So hopefully we can get some more wickets in the middle and put Sri Lanka under pressure”.
West Indies bowling arsenal is expected to be strengthened with the return of pacer Ravi Rampaul, the most experienced bowler in the Windies line up, with 90 ODIs and 22 T20s under his belt.
Rampaul will be expected to carry the weight of the seam attack along with Jerome Taylor and captain Jason Holder.
The West Indies are full of confidence after winning their practice match against SLC Board President’s XI by 43 runs via the Duckworth-Lewis method.
Carlos Brathwaite and Andre Russell had put on a sensational 193-run, eighth-wicket stand in a rain interrupted the match.
“The guys got a chance to spend some time in the middle in the practice match. Afterwards we came back and had a good blowout in terms of bowling. I would say the guys are well prepared,” said Holder.
“We also got a good net session under the lights, so the guys got a feel for the backdrop of the Premadasa Stadium. It’s very important that we start the series well because it’s a short series, and we’d like to build some confidence going into the T20 series as well.”
The regional side will be pleased that the homeside is playing without Rangana Herath, the spinner who destroyed their batting line-up in the test series.
Both Sri Lanka and West Indies have had a poor year in ODI thus far.
However Sri Lanka is ranked higher than West Indies who recently failed to qualify for then 2017 Champions Trophy.
Holder says his players are eager to rise in the rankings to safeguard their place at the 2019 World Cup.
“It is definitely in the forefront of our minds. Sri Lanka is obviously ranked higher than us so if we beat this team here now we obviously could gain quite a few points,” said Holder, who has been one the team’s leading players this year.
He has 17 wickets in 12 matches and also scored 208 runs in nine innings, including two half-centuries.
“It is important for us to keep looking to win games and keep boosting our ranking which is important with all these restrictions and cut off points in terms of making ICC tournaments,” he said.
“It is important that we take each game seriously as we normally do but even more seriously now because of the points system”.
The first ODI will be played at the Premadsa Stadium in Colombo today. The day/night contest bowls off at 2:30pm (5am Eastern Caribbean Time/4am Jamaica Time).
