Windward Islands, once whipping boys of West Indies cricket, will be looking to take care of Barbados Pride in the semi-finals of the 2016 Nagico Super50 cricket series at the Queen’s Park Oval in Port-of-Spain, today.
The Windwards topped Group B with four wins and speaking to the media yesterday, captain Liam Sebastien said his players could have done better. “We could have been better especially in the batting. The bowlers did well and we are happy that we topped the group but there is a lot of room for improvement.
“We are looking forward to the semis and as usual it will be a tough game. It’s a win or go home, have your best day, or best game and if not you are out. We are hoping that after six games, the batsmen come into their own. When I say batsmen, I am not speaking only of the top four but the entire playing 11. We all need to contribute so we could get a good score and we back the bowlers to come good.”
The Windwards had some close encounters in the preliminary round but Sebastien thinks it would serve his team well.
He said: “Too close for comfort, but it put us in a position to deal with pressure situations. Now we know how to adapt, so it was a win-win situation with the pressure on the game.”
With Barbados having played their matches at the Oval, Sebastien acknowledged that they would have an advantage.
“We are in a situation where we will have to read it on the day. More than likely it would be different to what we had in St Kitts, we just have to come out from ball one, back our skills and play each ball well from ball one,” he said.
His opposite number Jason Holder believes it will be a good match.
“We have been here for a while, so we are accustomed to the conditions but the teams are evenly matched. We have been playing good cricket. At full strength, we are balanced but the bowling is ahead with the guys in there. We have depth and balance in the bowling and we bat deep as well,” said Holder.
“Their bowling is disciplined and they have some explosive batters like Johnson Charles and Andre Fletcher. They are heavily dependent on their batting and we are aware of that situation.
“However, I think we have the edge because of the conditions.”
TEAMS
Barbados Pride: Jason Holder (Captain), Kraigg Brathwaite, Kevin Stoute, Shamarh Brooks, Dwayne Smith, Jonathan Carter, Roston Chase, Shai Hope, Shane Dowrich, Carlos Brathwaite, Sulieman Benn, Ashley Nurse, Jomel Warrican and Miguel Cummins.
Windwards Volcanoes: Liam Sebastien (captain), Sunil Ambris, Miles Bascombe, Johnson Charles, Keron Cottoy, Andre Fletcher, Kaveem Hodge, Delorn Johnson, Vincent Lewis, Mervin Mathew, Kyle Mayers, Shane Shillingford, Devon Smith and Tyrone Theophile.