KINGSTON – West Indies white-ball captain Shai Hope is looking forward to a productive showing from his top order batsmen in their One Day International (ODI) series against Sri Lanka, which bowls off in Jamaica on Wednesday.
The home side will put their run of four consecutive ODI home series wins on the line when they take on the visitors in the opening match at Sabina Park.
The West Indies have not lost an ODI series at home since 2023, and have beaten England twice, Bangladesh and Pakistan since then.
Speaking in a pre-match interview on Tuesday, Hope said the team had performed well in recent years on the back of a strong showing by its batters.
He said he was expecting similarly impressive results in the three-match series.
“The way how we’ve been batting for the last year or two, or probably even longer, the top six [batters] – barring the opening pair – we’ve been pretty solid and consistent. Keacy [Carty] has been prolific in his number three position and Sherfane [Rutherford] has been doing the same thing, so we’ve had a pretty strong top six in the last couple of years.
“The data has shown that we have improved in many areas, especially the middle overs where we usually face a lot of spin, we’ve been finding ways to combat that and I must commend the guys up front, so I would say if I had to choose one I would say the batting,” Hope said.
“But our bowling has been exceptional as well in the last couple of series that we played, especially on home soil. We saw the likes of Jayden [Seales] in the last series against Pakistan in the Caribbean and how he ran through those opening batters.
“So we just need to get the balance right in terms of consistency with both bat and ball and ensuring that we’re playing the best cricket that we can when the umpires call play,” the skipper added.
With the Windies currently sitting in 10th position, one spot behind Bangladesh for the final automatic qualifying spot for the 2027 World Cup, Hope said winning the series was crucial.
The West Indies currently have 74 points, 10 points less than the ninth ranked Bangladeshis, with the cutoff date for qualification being next March.
“There are always expectations. Whenever you play a series against a strong side you want to be victorious, so the key is to ensure we’re playing the best cricket that we can and try to get as many wins as possible. We understand the importance of that March deadline in 2027, so play good cricket and let’s hope that the results take care of themselves in the backend.
“The key is to win. We’re here on home soil and we’ve been playing really well ODI cricket here at home, so it’s just to continue in that vein,” Hope maintained.
“Like I said, preparations have gone pretty nicely so execution is the main thing for the day and hopefully we can get a good start tomorrow and get the ball rolling.”
CMC
