COLOMBO, Sri Lanka, CMC – Confident strike bowler, Fidel Edwards, says the West Indies will be firing from all cylinders in an effort to win their opening game against Australia in the ICC World T20 tournament when both teams meet on Saturday.
Edwards, the most experienced bowler in the squad with over a decade at the international level, says victory against the Aussies is the impetus needed to carry his team into the competitive tournament.
The 30 year old pacer grabbed three wickets in his four overs as the Windies dominated Afghanistan with an eight-wicket win in a warm-up fixture at the P Sara Oval.
“It’s a big game. If we win that match it would set the standard. The last T20 we played against the Aussies in Barbados we won it and the guys are still confident from that result” Edwards said.
“It would be a big plus for us to beat them and get off to a winning start in this tournament” he said. West Indies opening match against Australia on Saturday is at the R Premadasa stadium in Colombo and will be followed on Monday with their second game against Ireland.
Opening batsman Chris Gayle who scored 67 runs in the final warm-up game against Afghanistan says he was especially impressed with the effort from the bowlers in hot, energy-sapping conditions to restrict the batsmen to a low score. “We won’t be targeting any one individual…we will be targeting everyone” said Edwards.
“They have a good team and to beat them you need to play total team cricket,”.
Edwards said he was “up on pace” and was also pleased with that fact that he “used the variations well” in the West Indies victory over Afghanistan on Monday.
“It was a good work-out for the bowlers in this match. We are trying to build up to Saturday when we face Australia” Edwards said.
“Everything is geared towards the first match. So we are progressing well as we try to be spot on for the first match.”
