DHAKA, Bangladesh – World Champions West Indies will look for a repeat of their ICC World T20 2012 semi-final performance when they meet Australia in today’s third match of the ongoing ICC World T20 2014 tournament.Two years ago, West Indies made over 200 in their 20 overs to hammer the Aussies by 74 runs as they went on to win the title and skipper Darren Sammy yesterday said they will be looking for similar dominance when the two teams meet at the Sher-e-Bangla Stadium.
First ball is 15:30hrs (05:30hrs Eastern Caribbean Time/04:30hrs Jamaica Time).
“Once we play to our full potential – so far in this tournament, we have not played to our full potential – we will be very destructive. We were destructive in that semi-final last World Cup,” Sammy said.
The captain was speaking to reporters after a full training session yesterday morning at the Dhaka Academy.
“I expect a tough match. It will be a good contest. We have Samuel Badree and Sunil Narine, the Number 2 and Number 1 in the world in T20 bowling rankings at the moment. Badree has been getting wickets up front for us in the first six overs. It is something he will hopefully continue doing. It won’t be an easy game.”
Looking ahead to today, the captain added: “The Australians are a good side. We give them that respect. But at the end of the day, it is another cricket match where it is a contest between bat and ball. The team that handles the pressure better and executes properly normally comes out on top. And we are hoping that it will be us tomorrow.”
Sammy also touched on the form of openers Dwayne Smith and Chris Gayle. In the opening match against India they added a solid partnership wicket and then posted 97 in the victory over Bangladesh.
“Chris is hitting the ball well; (Dwayne) Smith is hitting the ball well. They have put on good runs. Chris has not been his explosive self that we are used to and we still scored 170 against Bangladesh. Once we back ourselves and play like we know how to play T20, things will go according to plan.”
Teams
Australia: Aaron Finch, David Warner, Shane Watson, Glenn Maxwell, George Bailey (capt.), Brad Hodge, Brad Haddin (wkp.), James Faulkner, Mitchell Starc, Doug Bollinger, Brad Hogg, James Muirhead, Nathan Coulter-Nile, Dan Christian, Cameron White.
West Indies: Dwayne Smith, Chris Gayle, Marlon Samuels, Lendl Simmons, Dwayne Bravo, Darren Sammy (capt.), Andre Russell, Denesh Ramdin (wk), Sunil Narine, Samuel Badree, Krishmar Santokie, Johnson Charles, Andre Fletcher, Ravi Rampaul, Sheldon Cottrell.