Harare [Zimbabwe], June 21 : Ahead of his side's ICC Cricket World Cup 2023 qualifier against Nepal, West Indies head coach Daren Sammy urged his batters to score runs with more intent, despite the threats posed by new ball in the early-morning settings in Zimbabwe.
West Indies, the two-time champions will take on Nepal in their Group A WC qualifier match on Thursday. WI is in the second place with one win in two matches, with two points. Nepal is in the third spot with a win and loss in two games, with a total of two points.
In the powerplay, WI could manage only 41 runs in their first match against the USA and they lost their openers, Brandon King and Kyle Mayers.
"We do not have a say in how the toss goes, but whenever we bat, that new ball poses a challenge. You have got to make sure that the opposition does not get too much ahead when that new ball comes. I thought we could have had more intent because that is one of the things we are talking about as a batting group - intent to score. And when I say intent to score, it is not looking for boundaries but looking for scoring opportunities and when you do that, you could score off good balls and get rotation of strike going," said Sammy as quoted by ESPNCricinfo saying to CWI Media.
"Again, it is a work in progress and we have to bowl well and keep creating opportunities. We dropped a couple of catches and that could affect us in the bigger scheme of things. But I am quite happy with the way we are going; the last six games that we have played we have taken steps in trying to play the brand of cricket we want to move forward with it. Again, it is sticking to our guns, sticking to the plans that we have, and believing and committing to the execution," he added.
Despite King and Mayers not scoring well and Shamarh Brooks being unavailable due to illness, Windies got their hold in the match back due to their middle order. Skipper Shai Hope who has slid down to number four since taking over the captaincy, Brooks' replacement Johnson Charles, Roston Chase and Jason Holder posted half-centuries. WI posted 297 on the board and USA fell 39 runs short of the target despite a century from Gajanand Singh.
Sammy expressed his happiness with progress of the line-up. Under Hope and Sammy, the two-time champions adopted an aggressive approach and had a deep batting line-up till number 11, with all-rounder Akeal Hosein being placed there. This depth helped the top and middle-order to go for their shots.
"I listened to the captain after the post-match. He said ideally you may want one of them to score a big hundred, but he was happier that performances came from different batsmen in the group. You look at Brandon King, who has been playing well, did not get a score, Kyle Mayers did not get a score, so it is good signs for us that even though we were under pressure we came back strongly and ideally you would want one of those to convert it into a hundred and we, as a team, celebrate the milestones after," said Sammy.
"But yeah the guys have prepared well and they are hitting lots of balls and they understand the direction the team wants to go in as a batting group. It is early doors, but the fact that mindset is getting towards what we want to do as a team I believe that you will see improvement in days to come," he added.
Nepal, the Windies' next opponent had a streak of improbable wins that took them to the WC qualifier. In the first match of the tournament, they defeated UAE by six wickets. Nepal head coach Monty Desai was previously WI's batting coach under Phil Simmons.
Sammy said that WI is not taking any opposition lightly in this highly-competitive event, with only two World Cup spots up for grabs.
"Yeah, I guess [in] the first match against the USA, we got the 'W' that we wanted, which was the win. Great start to the tournament, but we have so much left in the tank. The guys came out and you could see they were not happy with the way they played, which is a good sign for us. We keep challenging ourselves and yeah in the end we have a few things we have to continue. But it is a work in progress - trying to find the identity of our cricket moving forward," he said.
"But, yeah, I was pleased with the victory. You come [up] against Nepal, a team who is on the rise and they have been playing some good cricket, so again we respect all our oppositions, but we focus on the things that we want to do as a team and focus on the brand of cricket we want to play. And it all boils down to our preparation, which we have been doing well and then on game day the execution. I have full confidence and belief in the boys - or men rather - that they will go out and do themselves and the region proud," he concluded.
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