-Dyson says it’s a tour of opportunity

(WICB) The West Indies start the tour of England today with a three-day fixture against Leicestershire County at Grace Road and Head Coach John Dyson believes the match will be a “great opportunity” for all members of the team. First ball is at 11 am (6 am Eastern Caribbean Time/5 am Jamaica Time).

Speaking after Sunday’s training session at the same venue, Dyson noted that the match is a chance for players to push for a place in the team in the 1st Test against England at Lord’s on May 6-10.

“We have a number of new, exciting players who will be eagerly looking forward to playing in the matches and making an impact. We have two Test matches and everyone will be looking forward to being part of that,” Dyson said.

“I again anticipate a hard-fought series. We have shown we can compete against England and even beat them. It will be a great series and we have the belief that we can win. It is good to see matches that are hard-fought and it will create a lot of interest. The players enjoy the contests and overall it is very good for cricket.”

Dyson added: “We have been quite happy with what we have achieved in the last 18 months. We have seen spells of some very good cricket and we are becoming more than competitive in all forms of the games. Players are taking pride in their performances we they have confidence they can beat other teams.”

The West Indies will be looking to retain the Wisden Trophy they won by defeating England 1-0 in the Digicel Test Series in the Caribbean in February and March.

“This series is like a home and away. We played against England in the Caribbean between February and April and now we are back here to face them again. Obviously the conditions will be different from those we have in the Caribbean so it will be a different kind of challenge. Because it is so close it will make for very good viewing. I think England will be out for revenge. It is our challenge to make sure that they don’t get it in the return series over here.”

Apart from the match against Leicestershire the Windies will also have warm-up matches will be against Essex on April 25-27 and against the England Lions from April 30 to May 3. The 1st Test at Lord’s on May 6-10. The second Test will be at Riverside Ground at Chester-le-Street, starting May 14.
SQUAD: Chris Gayle (captain), Denesh Ramdin (Vice Captain), Lionel Baker, Sulieman Benn, David Bernard, Shivnarine Chanderpaul, Narsingh Deonarine, Fidel Edwards, Brendan Nash, Nelon Pascal, Dale Richards, Andrew Richardson, Darren Sammy, Ramnaresh Sarwan, Lendl Simmons, Devon Smith, Jerome Taylor.