KINGSTON, Jamaica, CMC – West Indies vice-captain Dwayne Bravo says the regional side needs to break its worrying trend of slow starts to series if it is to beat New Zealand in the upcoming five One-Day Internationals.
The all-rounder said too often the Windies found themselves having to come from behind and believed if they could start with a win in Thursday’s opener at Sabina Park, it would augur well for the rest of the series.
“Our aim is consistency. Most times in series we start off on the losing end and then play catch-up,” Bravo pointed out.
“That’s something we’re trying to work on and hopefully we want to start from this series where we start off with a win and start off well.
“If we can start off the series with a win chances are we’re going to win the series. That’s our biggest challenge as a team.”
West Indies will fancy their chances against a New Zealand side ranked just one point above them in seventh.
In fact, yet again, West Indies have found themselves as favourites to win, especially with a side packed with the likes of Bravo, Chris Gayle, Kieron Pollard and Sunil Narine, some of the biggest names in the game’s shorter format.
Bravo was quick to dismiss the title of favourites but said the Windies were confident of getting the better of the Black Caps. “When we play higher ranked team a lot of teams write us off before a ball is bowled and now we’re in a position where we’re playing against a team that is similar in terms of rankings, people will think it is easy for us,” Bravo said.
“I don’t think we are favourites. New Zealand have a good team. The two sides are ranked one away from each other so we can anticipate a good series.
“We won’t take any team lightly. We have to concentrate on what we have to do as a team and also what we have to do to improve and move up on a team.”
West Indies will take heart from their performance against World number one-ranked Australia earlier this year when they played superbly to snatch a 2-2 tie in the five-match series.
They subsequently faltered against England to lose 0-2 in the three-match series last month but Bravo said the side had buried the ghosts of the English tour.
“In the Australia series we had a fantastic series … they are the number one team and we did well playing at home,” he said. “We went to England and obviously conditions were different and we just weren’t on the ball there. It was a difficult series for us as a team but we bounced back quickly … in the two games (Twenty20s) against New Zealand.
“We’ve put the England leg behind us. We are reminded in media and the press about it but it’s something as players that we tend to move on [from] and look forward to the series ahead of us.”
