BRIDGETOWN, Barbados – Former West Indies vice-captain, Deryck Murray, has urged the second string West Indies side to prove the doubters wrong by upsetting Bangladesh in the series which gets underway Wednesday.
Bangladesh are a formidable unit on home soil and West Indies will face them in both the One-Day International and Test series with depleted squads, after 10 first choice players declined selection citing “COVID related concerns or personal fears”.
However, Murray said the squad had “nothing to lose” and needed to use the series to “build a reputation” and make life difficult for selectors when the senior players returned.
“They (Bangladesh) will be tough at home and the boys are going to be up against it,” said Trinidadian Murray, a wicketkeeper-batsman who featured in 62 Tests between 1963 and 1980.
“All things being equal, you look at the record of the Bangladesh players, you look at the record of the West Indian players and you think they’re in for a hiding.
“But if I was going to say anything to those players I would say ‘look guys, you’ve got nothing to lose. You’re going there, build a reputation for yourself, establish a place for yourself in the team and when the so-called big boys are available again, they can’t move you if you’ve made a hundred or got five wickets on this tour.’
“You’re in the next team regardless of who else is in. Go for it, enjoy it for what it is.’
“It’s difficult. It’s difficult anywhere under COVID conditions. It’s going to be difficult in Bangladesh conditions but this is your opportunity, you make the most of it.’”
Both formats have been hit by the withdrawals but the one-day side have taken the heaviest blow.
Captain Kieron Pollard heads the list of absent players, with all-rounders Jason Holder and Roston Chase, stroke-maker Shai Hope, left-handers Darren Bravo, Shimron Hetmyer and Nicholas Pooran, along with strike bowler Sheldon Cottrell all opting out.
Selectors were forced to pick nine uncapped players and recall Jason Mohammed, without an international in 2-1/2 years, to lead the unit
In the absence of senior players, Murray said of critical importance was all members of the squad taking responsibility for their own performances.
“Each one of the players in the team has an opportunity to take responsibility for saying ‘look, I’m part of this team, this team is going to come and confound all the critics, we are going to beat Bangladesh in Bangladesh’ and that’s the attitude they have to go with,” the 77-year-old Murray told Starcom Radio’s Mason and Guest cricket show.
“Each one has to work hard, take personal responsibility for whatever role he has to play at any particular time during the series and do that to the best of his ability.
“And again, working as a team is going to be key. We have a lot of baggage around the team [about] they haven’t been doing well, why it hasn’t been doing well etcetera, so they are going to be those pressures on the players but I think they’ve got to put that aside and be very positive.”
West Indies open their campaign with the opening ODI in Dhaka on Wednesday (1:30 am Eastern Caribbean time).
And Murray said after the disappointment of recent series in England and New Zealand, West Indies needed to come away from Bangladesh with some level of pride.
“We’ve got to get behind the boys. This is who represents us therefore we need to give them full support and we need them to come out with at least heads held high,” Murray stressed.
“West Indies cricket is going on trial again. We didn’t come out of England too well, we didn’t come out of New Zealand too well and of course we expected that.
“But we have to ensure that we are competitive with Bangladesh, we want to beat Bangladesh.
“They’re in the lower echelons of the world rankings with us and therefore we need to be able to win this series.”
CMC