CHRISTCHURCH, New Zealand, CMC-The West Indies team, seeking to regroup following their opening round thrashing at the hands of minnows Ireland, were travelling to Christchurch on Tuesday for their second round clash against Pakistan in the ICC Cricket World Cup 2015.
Jason Holder’s side, jolted by an excruciating four wicket loss to Ireland at Nelson, will be seeking to revive their campaign when they take on the Pakistanis.
West Indies have been criticized in many quarters for Monday’s defeat to Ireland and must now win matches to keep alive their chances of securing a quarter final place.
The Caribbean team collapsed to 87 for five before Lendl Simmons (102) and Darren Sammy (89) guided them to a total of 304 for seven against Ireland.
“The West Indies, I do not understand how they could ever think that just over 300 runs that they would just automatically win,” insisted former fast bowler Michael Holding, a member of the West Indies side that won the 1979 World Cup final.
“They cannot take things for granted. You should be able to think for yourself, ‘OK we got a reasonable score but we still have a fight on our hands and we still have to go out there and perform”.
West Indies will be resting on Wednesday and will only resume training on Thursday at the Hagley Oval in Christchurch.
They will also train on Friday ahead of the crucial clash against Pakistan, who lost to India by 76 runs in their opening encounter at the Adelaide Oval.
The match will be played on Saturday, February 21 at Hagley Oval. First ball is 11 am (6pm Sunday Eastern Caribbean Time/5pm Sunday Jamaica Time).
