Windies chase redemption in one-off T20 vs Australia

Brisbane—West Indies head coach Ottis Gibson has called on his players to step up and play like “the true world champions that they are” when they face Australia in a one-off T20 international today. First ball at the Gabba is 4.35 am Eastern Caribbean Time/3.35 am Jamaica Time.

“We are the world champions and we need to come out tomorrow and play like that. If we execute well there is a high probability we will win. We believe we have to play and play well to win. We have a good team and we are confident even though we went down in the ODIs,” Gibson said. “We didn’t represent ourselves very well in the 50-over format, but that’s gone now. We have to come out and fully focus on this one game left ...one more opportunity to win. We sat down and discussed where we need to get better. We didn’t put together all the ingredients to play a full game during the one-dayers, so we have another chance to get it together.”

Gibson was at the helm when the West Indies won the ICC World T20 trophy in Sri Lanka last year and expressed the confidence that any one of the 11 West Indies players put out on field today could be a potential match-winner. He was also full of praise for Kieron Pollard, who showed great maturity when he made an unbeaten 109 in the fourth one-day at the Sydney Cricket Ground. He followed up with 45 in the final match at the Melbourne Cricket Ground.

“The hundred was at Number 5, was a truly outstanding innings. The higher up you go the more responsibility you have with the bat and that was stressed to him,” Gibson said.
“We saw a more controlled Pollard. We knew he could hit the ball out of the ground, but he has shown he can bat for long periods and bat through the innings. That’s very encouraging for us and for him as well.” Captain Darren Sammy also wants West Indies to play like world champions.

Sammy says his men have not played like the team that won the T20 title in Sri Lanka last year and is therefore promising the Aussies a show at the Gabba. “We have to come in and play like true champions. We are the World Champions and we want to showcase our skills and show the people of Australia what we have,” Sammy said. “We have not demonstrated that a lot on this tour so we have to look to put it together on Wednesday.”

West Indies beat Australia in the semifinals and went on to defeat Sri Lanka in the final of the ICC T20. Sammy, hoping for similar performance today, has vowed that his side will be “going all out for a win.” “We have an opportunity to finish the tour on a high. We did the job very well in Sri Lanka last year. “The last time we played against Australia in this format we completely outplayed them, so that is the kind of motivation we will carry into the match,” said the Windies captain.

“The people over here in Australia have been very supportive of us and we have not demonstrated our very best cricket for them to see, so we want to give them something special before we head back home.” Sammy noted that the West Indies failed to win the “50-50 moments” during the ODI Series. However, he was full of praise for fast bowler Tino Best, who bowled with good pace and got four wickets in his two matches. “Australia played very well throughout the series and we didn’t play at our very best, and the results told us so,” he said.

“Tino bowled really well in the two matches he played. As he said, he was on ‘six cylinders’ and got some good wickets for us.” Sammy also praised rookie opener Johnson Charles, who scored his maiden international century despite the Windies defeat in the final ODI. “For a young guy who has been under pressure, to come out and score his first hundred at the MCG, that was really great and I would like to commend him on the way he played,” said Sammy. “He played well from start to finish of the innings and we hope he can continue from his point.”