NORTH SOUND, Antigua, CMC – Unpredictable West Indies will be searching for the right balance in batting approach and tempo against Sri Lanka’s dominant spinners when they face the Asian side in the opening One-Day International of the three-match series here today.
The Caribbean side eked out a 2-1 win in the just concluded Twenty20 International series but their batting lacked conviction in every outing, with the spin trio comprising leg-spinners Akila Dananjaya and Hasaranga De Silva, along with left-arm spinner Lakshan Sandakan weaving a web around the home side’s batsmen.
And with the wounds from the T20 International series still fresh – spin accounted for 19 of the 23 West Indies wickets to fall – assistant coach Roddy Estwick said they were aware of awaited them but would not play with fear.
“Obviously we’re working hard on that (combating the spinners). We know the Sri Lankans are going to come with their diet of spin but remember we played them before in Sri Lanka a year ago and the spinners weren’t that dominant,” Estwick told a media conference yesterday.
“The leg-spinner (Hasaranga) he was tight but he didn’t get a lot of wickets. So we’ve got to pay the respect that is due but it’s a different format, it’s a longer format and remember someone like Shai Hope is coming back into the side who did very, very well out in Sri Lanka.
“So yes we will pay him (Hasaranga) the respect but we will not fear him, and we will just have to get our game plan as spot on as possible.”
In the T20 series, West Indies seemed to have only one tempo, appearing content to eschew singles and twos in favour of boundary hitting. With a slight change in personnel for the ODI series, West Indies will target a slightly different approach with the likes of Hope, Darren Bravo, Jason Mohammed and Kyle Mayers coming into the squad.
However, Estwick warned West Indies was still aiming to be positive with their scoring, especially with the side targeting totals in excess of 300 runs.
“It’s ok to say you’re going to bat time but you’ve still got to try and make sure you get somewhere around 300,” he stressed.
“We can’t just sit back and say we’ll bat time because if we bat time, we’ll make 120 and then [people] will say we batted too slowly.
“We’ve got to come up with better game plans, we’ve got to execute better. You know you’ve got a certain strike rate and certain runs per over to go at in ODI cricket.
“To be safe these days, you have to try and probably make around 340, 350. It might not be that much in this series but remember we’re preparing for 2023 and that’s going to be very, very important because that’s when the World Cup is and we’re building towards that.
“So we can’t just sit back and say we’re going to spend time, we’re going to occupy the crease. Yes, somebody’s got to bat and bat as deep as possible and the players know their roles. If we execute our roles properly then we should be ok.”
West Indies have struggled badly in the ODI format in recent times, with just three series wins inside the last seven years and none of them coming against top-ranked nations. Further, they have won only nine of their last 23 ODIs. They have also not beaten Sri Lanka in a bilateral series in 13 years and suffered a 3-0 drubbing only last year when they toured the Asian country just prior to the COVID-19 outbreak. Estwick said a series win over the coming week would be critical, with West Indies needing to make headway in the ongoing ICC one-day championship which served as a qualifier for the 2023 World Cup.
“What I would really like to see is to win the series 3-0 but we’re also making sure that players understand their roles, players go out and execute their roles and [make sure] we don’t have to qualify [for the World Cup] like we did last time via the playoffs,” Estwick reiterated.
“We want to be in that first pool. We don’t want to go to a tournament where we have to win to qualify, so we’re going to try and make sure that we win all of our remaining series.
“It’s very very important we start by winning against Sri Lanka. Last time we played Sri Lanka a year ago away from home, we lost three-nil, even though it was a close fought series but we want to turn that around and we want to make sure we do qualify.”
SQUADS:
WEST INDIES – Kieron Pollard (captain), Shai Hope (vice-captain), Fabian Allen, Darren Bravo, Jason Holder, Akeal Hosein, Alzarri Joseph, Evin Lewis, Kyle Mayers, Jason Mohammed, Nicholas Pooran, Romario Shepherd, Kevin Sinclair.
SRI LANKA – Dimuth Karunaratne (captain), Dasun Shanaka, Danushka Gunathilake, Pathum Nissanka, Ashen Bandara, Oshada Fernando, Dinesh Chandimal, Angelo Mathews, Niroshan Dickwella, Thisara Perera, Kamindu Mendis, Wanindu Hasaranga, Ramesh Mendis, Nuwan Pradeep, Asitha Fernando, Dushmantha Chameera, Akila Dananajaya, Lakshan Sandakan, Dilshan Madushanka, Suranga Lakmal.
