DISGRUNTLED and obviously bewildered West Indies captain Chris Gayle said that his side’s seven-run loss to New Zealand in Wednesday’s warm-up match certainly was an impediment in their preparation for the Twenty20 World Cup that begins today. Playing at the Guyana National Stadium in their lone warm-up match on home turf before the tournament, the West Indies restricted the Black Caps to 124 for eight off 20 overs and in reply were all out for 117 runs in 19.4 overs.
The game was watched by several thousand cricket-loving fans at the premier facility who were all hoping to see the regional men get a moral win ahead of the competition.
It was the first time that the Windies team had a full complement of players since they started their preparation for the tournament. The only person sitting out was Kieron Pollard who, according to Gayle, was rested due to his long travel and some trouble with influenza.
“The loss didn’t do us any good, but it’s good to have everyone back in the groove, everyone is actually here now, Pollard didn’t play last night’s game and Bravo (Dwayne) is just trying to fit in and get accustomed back to the conditions.” Gayle said.
Meanwhile, the captain said that, sadly, the team has been placed under more pressure now since some of his key players with both bat and ball have picked up injuries.
Among them is fast bowler Jerome Taylor who only recently recovered from a hip injury that he picked up during the West Indies’ first Test against Australia in Brisbane last year.
“Taylor’s shoulder is struggling a bit, Hinds (Wavell) twisted his ankle and now we’re in a situation where Benn’s (Sulieman) shoulder is not looking too good so we’re put back on the back foot a bit so we’ll just have to see how things go for tomorrow and still go out there and win,” the West Indies skipper said.
Asked if the loss for the team and their inside snags add to the pressure on the West Indies to still be a formidable side, Gayle said, “yes, it’s pressure because we’re actually home and everyone knows that the conditions will be suitable for us. Based on that, it should be no excuse.”
The West Indies will play their two matches in the first round against Ireland and England in front of a sold-out Providence stadium and even though Gayle admitted that his side had let the public down with their dismal performance on Wednesday, he’s certain that the support will still be there.
“Guyana is always very supportive of the way we play even though we lost the game last night (Wednesday), I still think that the turnout will be huge.
Guyanese people are always passionate about their cricket because when we lose a game it’s very depressing on them so I’m sure they will come out in bundle cheering for us the rest of the tournament,” said the Jamaican Gayle.
The regional side failed to break into the second round in the first ICC World T20 in 2007 but would later qualify for the semi-final in 2009 where they were defeated by 57 runs by Sri Lanka when the event was held in England.
West Indies will play Ireland today in the second game of the day and night encounter at Providence and though the Irish have never defeated them in this format of the game, Gayle stated, “This is T20 and anything could happen, anything could happen but like I said, we will give a good account of ourselves.”