ORLANDO – Members of the West Indies cricket team have arrived in Florida for a one-week training camp as part of preparations for their upcoming tours of India and New Zealand.
The players will be involved in several team building exercises – indoors and outdoors – as well as interaction with Dr Jason Scott Hamilton, the Jamaican elite sports psychologist, who has worked with them for the last six months.
“We want to create a culture of unity, winning and overall success. We are not saying you’re not going to lose games – every sports team will lose games – but it is how we lose. We should always go down to the end in every game,” said president of the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB), Dave Cameron, who travelled to Florida with the players.
“We are for partnerships which will see the brand West Indies Cricket continue to grow. We want to see our players develop on and off the field and see our cricket reach the top again.”
The Windies have not played a Test match for almost a year and the team has been training hard to ensure players stay fit since they will be on the road for a long time.
West Indies will play two Tests and three ODIs during their tour of India, commencing with the first Test from November 6-10 in Kolkata.
“As a team we are working towards bigger and better things so I’m really happy to be here at the camp for this week,” said fast bowler Tino Best after the first session on Monday.
“We have the motto One Team One Goal and as players we can always get more information and form a closer bond. We have two tough tours of India and New Zealand coming up, so this will form the beginning of what we believe is something special.”
The second Test – Sachin Tendulkar’s farewell match – will be played in Mumbai from November 14-18.
Following their India tour, West Indies will be in New Zealand for three Tests, five ODIs and two T20 Internationals. (CMC)
