Windies to keep pressure on in second ODI

KINGSTON, Jamaica,  CMC – Captain Darren Sammy says West Indies will attempt to keep the pressure on luckless New Zealand in today’s second One-Day International but has urged his side not to become complacent.

Darren Sammy

West Indies rolled over the Kiwis by nine wickets in the opening ODI at Sabina Park on Thursday to take a 1-0 lead in the five-match series, and will now take a giant start towards winning the series with a second straight win at Sabina Park.

“We want to make sure whatever we do, we do it in a professional manner. We will look to come out, most likely with the same team on Saturday, and aim to go 2-0 up,” said Sammy.

“Playing here at Sabina, the pitch always offers something for the bowlers early on and then gets better for batting as the day progresses.

“Cricket is a game where if you don’t come out and perform on the day, anything can happen. We have a lot of respect for the opposition but we will look to maintain the upperhand and keep them down.

“We are playing some good cricket against them at the moment and it is good to see the team is enjoying it and we are putting in some good performances in the middle.”

Thursday’s victory was a dominant one, with Chris Gayle and Dwayne Smith both striking unbeaten half-centuries as West Indies cruised to an uncomplicated target.

Their bowlers had earlier turned in a clinical performance to limit the Black Caps to a paltry 190 for nine, with seamer Andre Russell getting a four-wicket haul in his first game back after missing the preceding Twenty20 doubleheader.

Mystery off-spinner Sunil Narine and fast bowler Ravi Rampaul picked up two wickets apiece to give support.

“Russell, after sitting out the two Twenty20s, showed what he is capable of by coming and making good use of what was a fairly moist wicket. He set the tone for us for the rest of the match,” Sammy explained.

“We then had Sunil Narine, who continues to be very good for us, with crucial wickets. Ravi Rampaul was good as well … he always does well here at Sabina.

“With the second game set for Saturday here again, we hope to put in a similar performance.”

West Indies have now won three matches in a row, after dominating the Kiwis in the two Twenty20s in Florida last weekend.

This after a two-month tour of England were they failed to win a single match against the hosts.

Sammy said he was pleased with the improvement was just looking to ensure that the winning trend continued.

“The aim is to continue … doing what we are doing. So far on this trip we have been very professional and we have been successful. Whether we bat or bowl we will look to be consistently good in all departments,” Sammy said.

“It was very good to restrict New Zealand for under 200 runs on that pitch. There is always room for improvement. Probably some would say we should have bowled them out after we had them five down under 100, but overall to restrict them to 190 was good and you would take that any day on that kind of track.”

Stand-in New Zealand captain Kane Williamson vowed his side would continue to fight despite their poor form in the series.

“It (series) has been one-sided, but we do believe we have the personnel … we’re young but we’ve got the potential to play very good cricket,” he said.

“It’s a shame we’ve yet to see it, but we can beat anyone on our day.”

SQUADS:

WEST INDIES – Darren Sammy (captain), Dwayne Smith, Chris Gayle, Johnson Charles, Lendl Simmons, Kieron Pollard, Dwayne Bravo, Marlon Samuels, Denesh Ramdin (wicketkeeper), Andre Russell, Tino Best, Sunil Narine, Ravi Rampaul.

NEW ZEALAND – Kane Williamson (captain), Rob Nicol, Martin Guptill, Daniel Flynn, Dean Brownlie, BJ Watling (wicketkeeper), Tom Latham, Jacob Oram, Nathan McCullum, Andrew Ellis, Kyle Mills, Doug Bracewell, Tim Southee, Tarun Nethula.