Narine ready to combat Zimbabwe as Windies look to seal series

St George’s—Sunil Narine enjoyed the superb batting of his team-mates in the first One-Day International against Zimbabwe, and said he also enjoyed bowling on the surface at the Grenada National Stadium.

The off-spinner had a front row seat as Johnson Charles cracked 130 off 111 balls—his second consecutive ODI century—and Darren Bravo stroked a sensational unbeaten 100 off just 71 balls—his maiden century in this format.

After the Windies amassed 337-4 off 50 overs—their fourth highest score of all time—Narine was introduced into the attack in the first 10 overs and quickly settled down with two wickets. He ended with the impressive figures of 3-28 off 10 overs as Zimbabwe could only muster 181-9 off 50 overs.

His effort moved him to second place in the International Cricket Council’s (ICC) One-Day Bowling Rankings. He will be looking for more success in the second One-Day International on Sunday. First ball is 9:30 am (8:30 am Jamaica Time).

“It was great to watch the batsmen get some big runs and set up a very good score. I was happy for Johnno (Charles) who got his second straight century and Darren who got his first ODI hundred. They both batted really well gave me a lot to bowl at. When I came on I could find my range and look for wickets,” Narine said.

The 24-year-old was speaking yesterday after he and team-mates had a full training session at the Grenada National Stadium. “I came on at a tough time when the batsmen were really going at it, but I got an early wicket and that helped me to settle down and concentrate on the job at hand. They had a plan to sweep the ball. I just have to work on my length to make sweeping a lot harder. That is something I tried yesterday [Friday] and again today in the nets.

If I adopt that approach tomorrow [today] they won’t find it easy to get me away.” Narine added: “I will be looking for wickets when I come on to bowl and to create major problems for the batsmen. I am an attacking bowler and I know when I come on, the team will be expecting me to hit my lengths from early.

“I just have to concentrate on what I have to do and not get carried away with the occasion. We have just come off the tour of Australia and I realised I had to adjust my lengths and bowl a bit fuller than I did on the pitches down there [in Australia]. I will look also to bowl a little slower here and vary my pace a bit more.”

Meanwhile, allrounder Kieron Pollard joined the squad and is available for selection for today’s second match of the International Home Series 2013. Left-hander Jonathan Carter will remain with the squad as cover for Charles, who was struck on the foot during his knock on Friday. A decision on his participation in the second ODI will be made this morning before the toss. (Courtesy WICB website)