COLOMBO, Sri Lanka – The West Indies team arrived in Sri Lanka on Sunday morning and immediately hit the ground running.On arrival at the airport the Windies were greeted by several fans and well-wishers. There was also a warm reception at the team hotel as several players posed for pictures and signed autographs. The players then had a pool session in the evening and were due to have their first training session yesterday morning.
Captain Darren Sammy said he team will be looking to have a successful seven weeks as they compete against the island side in three Tests, five One-Day Internationals and a T20 International. “We received a wonderful welcome from the people of Sri Lanka and you can feel the country’s readiness for the upcoming series. The people here love their cricket and they have a lot of respect for cricketers. We have settled in well and we had a good recovery session in the pool,” Sammy said.
This is Sammy’s third tour of Sri Lanka. His previous visits were with the West Indies A Team and the Marylebone Cricket Club Young Cricketers squad. He spoke about the conditions the team can expect.
“We will be looking to play total team cricket … everyone is expected to make a positive contribution. Spin bowling is always a major factor in Sri Lanka, as the pitches as usually flat and slow.
With this in mind we have our plans for the series and we will look to execute. We have to bat for long periods, and this is something we have been working on … we have to make sure we put our runs on the board.
We want to give our bowlers something to bowl at and ensure that we stay in the game at all times,” Sammy said.