BASSETERRE, St Kitts, CMC – West Indies team manager Sir Richie Richardson has backed the regional side to use the momentum from the successful one-day series and also dominate Bangladesh in the upcoming Test series.
The hosts swept the three-match one-day series convincingly and will now turn their attention to the longer format, with matches scheduled for Arnos Vale in St Vincent and the Beausejour Stadium in St Lucia.
Sir Richie said the team now needed to make the transition from the limited overs format but was confident they could take the momentum gained into the Test series.
“A different format means a different form of application. The wicket in St Vincent is usually one that assists spin bowlers and Bangladesh depends heavily on spin,” the former West Indies captain said.
“We have very good spin bowlers too and are used to the conditions, so I would like to think that we are favourites. What we’ve got to do is play positive cricket, we’ve got to back ourselves. They will be a little bit demoralised so we’ve got to capitalise on that.
“As long as we play to our strengths, apply ourselves and look to bat long, put the ball in the right areas and take all our catches, I think we will beat them.”
Coming off a poor series against New Zealand earlier this year, West Indies carved out a three-wicket win in the first ODI at the Grenada National Stadium before following up with an emphatic 177-run victory at the same venue.
In the final game at Warner Park here, West Indies trounced the Bangladeshis by 91 runs to complete a clean sweep.
The Windies missed out on the chance to extend their winning streak when the one-off Twenty20 International was rained out after just 28 balls on Wednesday night here but Sir Richie said that result would have no impact on the side going forward.
“Certainly, to have beaten any international team is a commendable achievement and I have to say to Dwayne Bravo and the boys ‘very well played.’ I thought we executed well in all areas, we started slowly in the first match but came really good in the last two and completely clean-swept Bangladesh,” he pointed out.
“The important thing is for us to continue to play the way we’ve been playing and look to improve in every single game. It’s unfortunate what happened here in St Kitts during the only T20 match.
“It was a freak storm … but from the way we were looking I believed we would have won that match so I’m feeling very pleased.”
The first Test bowls off September 5th with the second match scheduled to start September 13th.
