A six-man West Indies unit began preparations for the upcoming ICC Champions Trophy with a one-week training camp yesterday at the Sagicor High Performance Centre, 3Ws Oval.
Denesh Ramdin, Tino Best, Kemar Roach, Darren Bravo, Johnson Charles and Devon Smith went through their paces yesterday under the watchful eye of head coach Ottis Gibson.
Marlon Samuels is set to join the team later this week along with Ravi Rampaul, Sunil Narine and Chris Gayle, who were plying their trade in the Indian Premier League (IPL).
However, newly appointed captain Dwayne Bravo and teammate Jason Holder, whose Chennai Super Kings have qualified for the IPL final, will meet up with the team in England, as will Darren Sammy and Kieron Pollard.
The other member of the 15-man squad, Ramnaresh Sarwan, is currently in England playing county cricket.
Speaking to the media shortly after yesterday’s training session, Smith, who was recalled after a two-year hiatus, said he was hoping to get among the runs in the 50-over competition.
The 31-year-old Grenadian was the top scorer in the recent Regional 4-Day and Super50 competitions.
“I feel very confident. I have been doing very well this season and I just have to go out there and play my game and be the Devon Smith that I know that I can be,” he said.
“I’ve been getting some good starts before and not really carrying on, but this year I’ve worked on that and I’ve gotten good starts and carried on to get some big centuries.
“Not only that but I’ve been a bit more consistent in scoring my runs and that has helped me a lot.”
The left-hander,who last represented the regional side in a limited-overs match in 2011 against Pakistan, also said that he felt the team would do well under the leadership of Bravo.
“Bravo is full of energy and once he is on the field you always feel that something could happen at anytime,” Smith said.
“He’s always encouraging you to believe in yourself and telling you that once you believe in yourself other people will believe in you.
“I think it’s a good thing, but having said that I also have to say tough luck to Sammy as well.”
Gibson, who coached the West Indies to victory in last year’s ICC World Twenty20, said he thought the regional team had a good chance of adding to their 2004 title.
“The hardest thing will be to get used to the conditions early,” he said.
“But we have quite an experienced One-Day outfit at the moment, so once we get there and get acclimatized early we will be okay.
“We believe we can win these big tournaments, having recently done it in Sri Lanka when we played brilliantly to win the ICC World T20 championship. So, this is something that we are really looking forward to.”
