West Indies paceman, Kemar Roach, has thrown his support behind the Caribbean boys to pull off a Test series win against Bangladesh.
Roach, who has toured Bangladesh on three occasions, spoke to the media via Zoom yesterday and declared that the side, despite their inexperience, has what it takes to come out victorious.
“It’s just about doing the job that is required and I am looking forward to it,” he said.
“I think we can pull one out the hat and win the series in Bangladesh. It’s going to take a lot of work, a lot of planning, a lot of smart cricket and I think we have enough to get it done so I am confident in the guys going forward,” Roach added.
The leader of the pace attack noted that while the pace department will be under pressure, Alzarri Joseph had unearthed some positives during the One Day series and, along with Shannon Gabriel, the trio can get the job done. He explained, “I think they are always under pressure to perform but we have to do what we know we can do. I think Shannon is in a good run of form right now. I’ve been doing okay myself so it’s obviously about us trying to get our best performance down here, you are right the team is pretty inexperienced but I believe we have what it takes to get over the line.”
Looking to secure the series, Roach noted the key to victory is hard work and being positive.
“Just be positive, obviously coming to Bangladesh is a tough tour, is all about being positive when we are trying to execute our plans as best as we can, I think the guys have been working hard, we’ve been practicing hard as well for about three weeks so the conditions are becoming adaptable and we understand what we need to do to put a good score on the board and take 20 wickets in the match,” he detailed.
The 32-year-old is hoping that the test team does better than the limited-overs team which suffered a three-match whitewash but urged the younger players to remain positive.
“Yes,” he replied when asked about the Test side doing better than the 50-over team while adding, “I hope so. I think obviously the one day series didn’t go as we would have liked but you have to understand it was a very young team, a lot of inexperience in that team so it was just a learning curve for those guys to take it back home and obviously learn from it, improve their game and come back stronger but with the Test team I am sure a couple guys have been here before, we know what to expect. I expect the guys to go out there and go out there and give a better showing and put up a better fight and obviously win games for the West Indies.”
West Indies will play their first warm up match from tomorrow before the first Test on February 3 to 7 at Chattogram.
West Indies Test Squad: Kraigg Brathwaite (captain), Jermaine Blackwood (vice-captain), Nkrumah Bonner, John Campbell, Rahkeem Cornwall, Joshua Da Silva, Shannon Gabriel, Kavem Hodge, Alzarri Joseph, Kyle Mayers, Shayne Moseley, Veerasammy Permaul, Kemar Roach, Raymon Reifer and Jomel Warrican.
