(CMC) – West Indies Test team is ready to take on Sri Lanka in the next few days, with the aim of giving fans good cricket and a historic win at Galle, vice-captain Jermaine Blackwood has assured.
The Caribbean men will begin the two-Test series on November 21 on the heels of the T20 squad being eliminated from the semi-final race in the World Cup in Abu Dhabi two weeks ago.
Blackwood said the T20 team’s performance had not put any additional pressure on the Test squad when they play at the Galle International Stadium.
“This group that is here now, I can say whenever we play for West Indies, we pride ourselves and we absolutely love to play for West Indies, and we have no added pressure at all. The guys are very relaxed, the guys are comfortable. We’re just eager to go out there on the 21st and play some good cricket so the fans can have something to cheer about in the Caribbean,” he said at a CWI press conference.
Acknowledging that West Indies have never won a series in Sri Lanka, Blackwood said the Kraigg Brathwaite-led team would be seeking to turn that around.
“This is a very great squad. We have some very good players in the team and everyone knows that we haven’t won a series for a lot of years now and we’re going to take it upon ourselves to make sure we can [change] that and actually win some games here and actually turn that curve for West Indies cricket in terms of winning games in Sri Lanka,” he said.
The deputy skipper said he anticipated that spin would play a big part of both the West Indies and Sri Lanka bowling attacks and the Caribbean men are prepared for that.
Since reaching Sri Lanka, the West Indies have been training and “trying to adapt to the surface as quickly as possible”, he added.
Despite not being able to play for the first few days because of rain, he said the squad was “in a very good place” and ready to play.
“We came here to win and that is our goal….The guys are hungry and you can see the hunger in all of the guys’ eyes. We are ready to play cricket. It doesn’t matter what surface we get; we are ready to play good cricket,” he said.
As for his own game, the right-handed bastsman said he was focused and ready for the task ahead.
“Batting wise, I think I’m ready. I’m batting very good and I’m very focused right now, so it’s just time to go out and play cricket and execute my plans…. I’m fully focused for these two Test matches,” he said.
The second test will bowl off here on November 29. The series is the second of six series, three at home and three away, that West Indies will play in the 2021-2023 ICC World Test Championship.
