KINGSTOWN, St Vincent (CMC) – West Indies captain Darren Sammy believes Arnos Vale can prove to be a “happy hunting ground” for his side, as they prepare to square off with Australia there in the first three One-Day Internationals of the five-match series starting tomorrow.
The regional side boasts an outstanding record at Arnos Vale, winning 17 of the 20 ODIs played there since the venue made its international debut back in 1981.
More recently, they beat Zimbabwe in a triple-header there two years ago and Sammy told a media conference here yesterday he was hoping to extend that success.
“So far, St Vincent has been a very good ground for us. As a West Indies team, we always get results in our favour here,” Sammy pointed out.
“For me personally, it’s a good happy hunting ground. The last three games we played here we won all three.”
In those three matches, Sammy claimed eight wickets at an average of 10.37 apiece and an excellent economy rate of 2.7 runs per over.
However, Sammy said he recognised the Windies’ last two ODI series in the Caribbean had ended in defeat, both 3-2 verdicts at the hands of Pakistan and India.
He said he was anxious to break that trend.
“Obviously what happened against India and Pakistan, we’re looking to reverse that and start off the series on a winning note,” he stressed.
“We know we’re playing Australia but we’re not going to play names, we’re just going to go out there and play good positive cricket and hopefully we can come out on top.”
West Indies will face Australia in the second ODI on Sunday before closing out the triple-header on Tuesday.
The series will conclude in St Lucia with a double-header set for March 23 and 25.