IN?SIMILAR?fashion to his seam bowling, Darren Sammy gives little away with his answers in front of a microphone.
Neither does his delivery stray far from a particular line: “We have to keep believing . . . It’s about transferring all these things out in the middle . . . The guys are working, hopefully we will see a better show come tomorrow.”
However, 1-0 down in the five-match Digicel Pearls One-Day International (ODI) cricket series, Sammy’s West Indies team must come with something different in the second ODI today if there is to be parity with world champions India before the battle shifts from the Queen’s Park Oval.
Beaten by 16 runs in the Twenty20 tour opener on Saturday, and overcome by four wickets in the first ODI on Monday, the West Indies succumbed on both occasions because their batsmen could not make enough runs.
It has been the theme of the season thus far – batting that has flopped, especially against spin.
Monday’s display saw the Windies lose nine wickets in making a modest 214 in their full 50 overs.
The batsmen failed to score off 178 balls, equivalent to about 30 overs.
The skipper admitted that such an inability is “really putting you on the backfoot”.
By way of explanation he said: “Yesterday [Monday] our spinners really kept the Indians quiet as well.
“Throughout world cricket, especially in the World Cup, we saw the spinners play an important part where batsmen found it difficult rotating [the strike against] the spin.
“I know our guys are trying. [On Monday], it showed that once you spend time in the middle – (Ramnaresh) Sarwan and (Marlon) Samuels to the latter part of the innings – that they were doing it. So it’s about confidence to put the ball in the gaps and rotate the strike.”
Sammy added: “What could be done, you could show a little bit more intent at their spinners.
“When our spinners bogged them down, they showed that intent towards us. I think the guys are practising using their feet and showing that intent in the middle.”
The West Indian batsmen’s lack of confidence at the moment, manifests itself at the very start of the innings, where Kirk Edwards is still struggling to settle at this higher level and Darren Bravo continues to find it difficult to dominate.
Sammy is sticking by the younger Bravo.“Maybe he’s going through a little patch right now but we all have seen what he’s done.
“In Sri Lanka he was our best batsman in playing the spinners. I have full confidence that he will come good.”
But he hinted at a possible adjustment at the one-down spot.
“Maybe we could adjust the batting line-up or maybe put Sarwan at three or something.
“It’s all scenarios we could put forward. Hopefully, whoever gets the job could go out there and do the best job for the team.”
Another option, not taken in the first ODI, is to use Kieron Pollard for the aggression that can put any bowling attack on the defensive.
Sammy however, gave no clue as to whether the Windies would go that way today.The skipper was happy enough, however, to commend the effort of his bowlers.
“We created opportunities to take wickets, so the bowling is good, we can’t fault the bowlers,” he said.
“They go out there and give their heart out – Ravi Rampaul leading the pack. Everyone is rallying around his big heart.”
The second ODI will be played on the same strip as the T20 and Sammy’s Indian counterpart Suresh Raina will be hoping his team is able to get a similar result as on Saturday.
And while he would be happy with his side’s 100 per cent record thus far, Raina would want to see improvement in the field where India missed catches, a stumping and suffered the odd misfield in the first ODI. They have not been made to pay for those mistakes thus far.
If Sammy’s side is to seize on such weaknesses today, West Indian self-belief will finally have to show itself.
Teams
WEST INDIES (from): Darren Sammy (captain), Dwayne Bravo (vice-captain), Carlton Baugh, Devendra Bishoo, Darren Bravo, Kirk Edwards, Anthony Martin, Kieron Pollard, Ravi Rampaul, Andre Russell, Marlon Samuels, Ramnaresh Sarwan, Lendl Simmons.
INDIA (from): Suresh Raina (captain), Harbhajan Singh (vice-captain), R. Ashwin, S. Badrinath, Virat Kohli, Praveen Kumar, Amit Mishra, Munaf Patel, Parthiv Patel (wk), Yusuf Pathan, Wriddhiman Saha, Ishant Sharma, Rohit Sharma, Vinay Kumar, Manoj Tiwary, Shikhar Dhawan.
