BRIDGETOWN, Barbados, CMC – West Indies all-rounder Darren Sammy says the buzz word for the regional side Down Under will be “execution”.
The 26-year-old St Lucian is a member of the 15-man Windies squad currently in Australia for the five-match one-day series against the hosts.
They will also play two Twenty20 Internationals.
Sammy said in order for West Indies to beat Australia, they would need to stick to game plans and execute them clinically.
“The last time we were in Australia nobody expected us to play the way we did but with that series we gained a lot of confidence knowing we could definitely beat the Aussies,” Sammy said.
“In this shorter format of the game it is up to us to continue the good work we left off in Australia and implement it in the one-day series.
“It’s an opportunity for everyone to step up and show what [they] are made of. It’s up to us as long as we execute properly whatever team plans and team goals we have, it’s up to us the cricketers to go out there on the field and play to the best of your ability.”
Sammy pointed out that most of the squad had turned in solid performances during the WICB regional first class tournament and appeared to be in form.
However, he again stressed that putting performances on the field on match day was the most important thing for the squad.
“I think most of the batsmen have been scoring runs, (Denesh) Ramdin has two hundreds Narsingh (Deonarine) one, (Brendan) Nash has some good scores and everybody should be happy with their game,” Sammy said.
“But like we know, Australia are always tough to beat but we just have to go out there and believe and execute properly. I love that word, I think execution will be our most important word there in Australia.”
West Indies will be hoping to overturn their last one-day series result against Australia, when they were clean swept in a five-match rubber in the Caribbean in 2008.
Sammy said the Caribbean side would not be intimidated, however, and would be focused on getting the better of the hosts with strong, positive cricket.
“I’m not really worried but Australia is a good team. It’s up to us to control what we can control and execute against them properly,” Sammy pointed out.
“(Shane) Watson is in good form, we had the measure of (Ricky) Ponting in the Test series but like I said on the day is when cricket is played. It’s up to everybody to play as a unit and execute again.”
West Indies, who arrived in Sydney on Friday, will open their tour with a match against a Prime Minister’s XI in Canberra.
