COLOMBO – Spin bowling will play a major role in the upcoming ICC Cricket World Cup, West Indies captain Darren Sammy has acknowledged.
Following the West Indies’ four-wicket loss to Sri Lanka in a second warm-up match on Tuesday, Sammy backed his slow bowlers to perform on the big stage.
“Spin will be effective during the tournament. It is quite clear. If you had a close look at the warm-up matches you would see the ball was turning and the slow bowlers all did a good job,” Sammy said.
“We have two specialist spinners in Sulieman Benn and Nikita Miller and they are bowling really well at the moment for us, so we expect them to play major parts,” he added.
In lauding Benn for a good spell against the Sri Lankans, Sammy said he was an asset in the regional team.
“He has been taking wickets and that is always a good sign for your spinner. Miller was outstanding when he got the opportunity against the Kenyans.
He is also one of our better fielders and offers a lot to the team.”
Sammy also backed his predecessor Chris Gayle to play his part with his off spin bowling.
“He has done well for us in all forms of the games as well and we can call on him to deliver with his off breaks in this tournament as well,” Sammy said.
Despite the loss against Sri Lanka, Sammy said the regional cricketers were still focused on the job at hand.
“All the warm-ups are over and it is now down to the business of challenging the other teams and looking to win the World Cup,” Sammy added.
“For us the warm-up matches were very useful. Before the warm-ups we had some matches against Sri Lanka and that will all help us to come up with the best combinations when we move over to India for the main event.”
The West Indies team will travel from Colombo to Delhi today and will open their World Cup campaign next Thursday against South Africa
at the Feroz Shah Kotla Stadium. They then face The Netherlands (February 28, Delhi), Bangladesh (March 4, Dhaka), Ireland (March 11, Mohali), England (March 17, Chennai), and India (March 20, Chennai). (CMC)
