Thursday, March 28, 2024

Gibson’s goal

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RESTORING WEST INDIAN cricket pride and avoiding yet another series whitewash is what coach Ottis Gibson is hoping for. He trusts that Chris Gayle’s winless outfit will be able to realise his dream in the penultimate One-Day International of the five-match Digicel series at Windsor Park here today.With South Africa marching to an unsurpassable 3-0 lead, today’s fourth ODI here and Thursday’s final one in Trinidad will be of academic interest.Still South Africa, who handed the West Indies 5-0 series whitewashes in 2005 and 2008, would be striving for their third ODI series sweep even though captain Graeme Smith hinted a few key bowlers, probably Dale Steyn and Morne Morkel, might be rested ahead of the upcoming three-match Test series.“We will obviously make the decisions. Some of our guys have had a hell a lot of cricket, especially in the bowling front; and with three big Test matches to come, we obviously got to manage them,” Smith said after Friday’s series-winning 67-run victory, their ninth straight ODI win over the Windiesin the last four years.“It is very warm out here; so we got to manage those things. But there is no doubt in my mind that whatever team that comes out on Sunday will play to win.After clean sweep“We want to win and go all the wayfor a clean sweep. That’s the goal.“Every game we want to play with pride,” Smith noted.But West Indies’ coach Gibson reckoned that the regional side would rebound from Friday’s meltdown when they were routed for 157.“What you always find from this current team at the moment is after a sort of embarrassing loss like that, we always find some strength to bounce back, but the problem is finding that strength consistently.” Gibson also hinted that he and the selectors might have to look at other options if the present players continueto underperform.“That is a decision that I will have to make . . . whether we continue to persist with this group of players.Diminutive “A” team captain Travis Dowlin has joined the squad, and, along with all-rounder David Bernard Jr, will be considered for selection in the final 11 in an attempt to bolster the batting line-up.Smith also noted three ODI wins, which followed the two T20 triumphs in Antigua, had eased some of the pain after failing to get past the Super Eights of the recent World Twenty20.“It was only six games ago, we were very disappointed and really trying to pick ourselves from the floor after a disappointing Twenty20 campaign. We had to bounce back and we did that. The side is motivated and we want to come out and play well,” he said. But he remains wary that the West Indies, who have not beaten South Africa in an ODI, since the six-wicket semi-final victory in the 2006 ICC Champions Trophy in India, have the batsmen who dominate an attack on their day.Smith also revealed that the game plan in the last match was to bowl aggressively, especially at someone like Kieron Pollard; and the bouncy pitch helped their pace bowlers.But Gibson said it wasn’t a case of being afraid against the barrage of bouncers.“Our guys in the Caribbean grew up on short balls, so I won’t say we’re scared. Obviously, it was a team plan of theirs. You are not going to defend 220 in 50-overs cricket. You have to get wickets and that was the plan to obviously come hard at us and put us on the back foot,” Gibson said.SQUADSWest Indies (from): Chris Gayle (captain), Dale Richards, Darren Bravo, Dwayne Bravo, Shivnarine Chanderpaul, Narsingh Deonarine, Kieron Pollard, Darren Sammy, Dense Ramdin, Jerome Taylor, Ravi Rampaul, Sulieman Benn, David Bernard, Travis Dowlin.South Africa (from): Graeme Smith (captain), Hashim Amla, Jacques Kallis, AB de Villiers, David Miller, Alviro Petersen, JP Duminy, Ryan McLaren, Johan Botha, Morne Morkel, Dale Steyn, Lonwabo Tsotsobe, Mark Boucher, Charl Langeveldt, Roelof van der Merve.Umpires: Daryl Harper, Billy Doctrove, Clyde Duncan, Norman Malcolm.Match referee: Roshan Mahanama.

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