WHANGAREI, New Zealand, CMC – Head coach Stuart Law admitted yesterday the preceding Test series against New Zealand had been a chastening experience but said West Indies would be looking to make up for that disappointment in the three-match one-day series starting tomorrow.
West Indies are coming off a hammering in the two-Test series where they lost both matches by wide margins inside four days.
However, Law said the new format represented a chance for West Indies to showcase their ability in a way they had not during the Tests.
“This is a different format for a start. We don’t play Test cricket now until June next year,” the Australian told reporters.
“We need to learn from our mistakes in the Test series, we need to execute better next time we get the opportunity but it’s a different format now. The Test players that have remained here in the one-day side they can feed off information about their bowlers, about the conditions and then we can put a plan in place but it’s nice having a fresh group in.
“They do recharge the others and we’re looking forward to a different format this week and then we move onto another one (format) the following week.”
West Indies lost the first Test in Wellington by an innings and 67 runs and went down by 240 runs in Hamilton just a week later.
The results were a huge disappointment for the Caribbean side that arrived in New Zealand with high expectations, especially coming off encouraging results over the last several months.
Law said having acknowledged the “hard truths” coming out of the Tests, it was important his side made a bold statement in the one-dayers.
“The group that played the Test matches we need to take away a lot hard truths. We didn’t perform up to our expectations of ourselves, and we know a lot of people are disappointed back in the Caribbean,” Law said.
“So this is a great opportunity for our guys to learn from the Test series … and come out strong on Wednesday morning, make a statement and let New Zealand know that we just not here to make up numbers but we’re here to fight.”
Several new players have come in for the 50-overs format with the likes of superstar left-hander Chris Gayle, Evin Lewis, Jason Mohammed and Rovman Powell all expected to bolster the Windies.
And unlike the Test format, Law said many of the players coming in were experienced and already full of confidence.
“They are pretty experienced in this format, most of them,” Law explained.
“A lot of them have played a fair bit of one-day cricket so I think everyone is just enjoying the challenge of getting out there in the white ball game and showing the world, particularly New Zealand, that we can play the game.”
