BRIDGETOWN, Barbados, CMC – Sir Curtly Ambrose says he is surprised by West Indies’ struggles against Bangladesh in the ongoing Tri-Nations Series in Ireland.
The Caribbean face the Tigers in today’s final at The Village in Malahide but will enter the contest against the backdrop of two losses in as many matches to their opponents in the tournament.
“I’m a little bit surprised. Bangladesh are a decent team so I wouldn’t want to say that the West Indies should just walk all over them, that’s not the case,” said Sir Curtly, who claimed 405 wickets from 98 Tests.
“But I still don’t believe they should have beaten us twice now, so that has come as a bit of a surprise. I’m just hoping we can do a lot better come the end of this month and our first World Cup game because I feel we have a strong enough team to go far in this tournament (World Cup) but we have to be consistent.
“That will be the key. If we’re not consistent, we won’t go far.”
West Indies went down by eight wickets in their opening clash with Bangladesh before suffering a five-wicket defeat in their second match on Monday. However, the Windies easily saw off Ireland in their two encounters against the hosts, to set up a meeting in the final against Bangladesh.
West Indies have been without several of their World Cup players due to their Indian Premier League commitments, but Sir Curtly said even with those players, consistency remained the benchmark for the regional side.
“My concern is that we are not consistent. If we remain consistent in this World Cup, we’re going to create some surprises and do much better than most people think,” the Antiguan contended.
Following today’s final, West Indies begin a camp in Southampton before facing South Africa and New Zealand in official warm-up matches in Bristol on May 26 and 28.
They take on Pakistan in their World Cup opener on May 30 in Nottingham.
