West Indies focus on Test series win over Pakistan
May 20th, 2011 - 5:25 pm ICT by IANSBasseterre (St Kitts), May 20 (IANS) The West Indies will be looking to make it back-to-back wins over Pakistan when the two teams clash in the second Digicel Test at Warner Park Friday.
The West Indies beat Pakistan by 40 runs in the first cricket Test in Guyana. It was the home team’s first Test match victory in more than two years. It has now set up the possibility for the Windies to win their first series since March 2009 when they beat England 1-0 to win the Wisden Trophy.
West Indies captain Darren Sammy said their aim is to maintain the momentum.
“The victory was a boost in confidence for the guys. Everybody believes that they can go out there and win against Pakistan. We celebrated our Test victory. Now we’re back at work and focusing on the second match,” Sammy said.
“We did the right things in Guyana and we will look to do the same things here. We bowled well as a unit and in the batting we saw guys digging deep for the team. The Pakistan spinners gave us some trouble in Guyana and we know that it is an area we have to get better. We had intense training sessions Wednesday and again today (Thursday) and we are ready for this match.”
Sammy said the overall team goal is to move up the ICC Test rankings table. A win in the second Test would be a giant step forward.
“As a team, when we met in Barbados before we departed for Sri Lanka last November, we had our plan for the next three years, where we want to be, and so far we’re working very hard in achieving that target,” Sammy said.
“Moving up the rankings is definitely one of our team goals. We have that at the back of our minds, which is a motivation for the guys. Winning a series at home against a higher-ranked team would be a massive boost.”
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- Pakistan played "good cricket all around" in ODI opener against Windies: Afridi - Apr 24, 2011
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Tags: basseterre st kitts, cricket test, first test, giant step, intense training, last november, ranked team, second test, spinners, target, team goal, team goals, test match, test rankings, test series, test victory, warner park, west indies, windies, wisden