KINGSTOWN – West Indies captain Darren Sammy hopes a winning history at Arnos Vale can help lift his team from a prolonged losing streak against Australia when the first of five One-Day Internationals is played today.
West Indies have won 17 of 20 ODIs at the picturesque venue, which is nestled on St Vincent’s southwest coast between the tiny E.T. Joshua airport and the Caribbean Sea.
“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 said. “For me personally, it’s a happy hunting ground. The last three games here, we won all three.”
But West Indies have gloomier, more recent history to overcome. The Caribbean men haven’t won a ODI against Australia since October 2006, losing 13 of 14 with one no-result.
“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 could come out on top,” Sammy said.
“We’ve got to believe we have it. We have some exciting players and we have depth in both batting and bowling, so we just have to go out there and execute properly.”
Sammy said all-rounders Dwayne Bravo and Kieron Pollard would be crucial to the chances of the Windies, who in the continuing absence of the estranged Chris Gayle are likely to showcase a new opening pair in Johnson Charles and Kieron Powell.
Pollard hit his maiden ODI century against India at Chennai last December, while Bravo is returning to the national side for the first time since he pulled out midway through the one-day series against India last June to “refocus and reflect”.
Bravo has been entrusted with the vice-captaincy, replacing Denesh Ramdin, who withdrew after fracturing his right thumb in the pre-series training camp.
Ramdin’s place has been taken by Carlton Baugh but it will be interesting to see whether inform Barbadian pacer Tino Best, who has been recalled, makes the starting XI, as well as off-spinner Sunil Narine.
Australia coach Mickey Arthur is confident his team can continue their winning run, which culminated last week with victory in the triangular ODI finals against Sri Lanka.
“We’ve evolved the team over the last month, and we’re just looking for these guys to continue to put their hands up during the series to make sure we keep going in the right direction,” the South African said. “We’re very excited about the talent we have and a lot of that talent is going to get a lot of opportunities here.”
Arthur, Australia’s first foreign coach, pinpointed dynamic opener David Warner, spinner Xavier Doherty, fast bowler James Pattinson and new wicketkeeper Matthew Wade as some of the newer players who could shine.
It is the first Caribbean visit for Doherty, Pattinson and Wade, while Warner was part of the team that reached the final of the World Twenty20 in 2010. (AP/EZS)
