Friday, March 29, 2024

Let’s do it again

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DHAKA – West Indies are looking to keep Australia down under today.
The world T20 champions have their eyes on a repeat of their 2012 semi-final performance when they meet Australia in today’s match, their third of this year’s tournament.
Two years ago, West Indies made over 200 in their 20 overs to hammer the Aussies by 74 runs as they went on to win the title.
Skipper Darren Sammy said yesterday they will be eyeing a similar dominance when the two teams meet at the Sher-e-Bangla Stadium.
The captain knows his team hasn’t peaked yet, but he’s expecting his men in maroon to start firing on all cylinders soon. “Once we play to our full potential – and so far in this tournament, we have not played to our full potential – we will be very destructive. We were destructive in that semi-final last World Cup,” Sammy said yesterday.
The captain was speaking to reporters after a full training session yesterday morning at the Dhaka Academy.
“I expect a tough match. It will be a good contest. We have Samuel Badree and Sunil Narine who are Number 2 and Number 1 in the world in T20 bowling rankings cricket at the moment. Badree has been getting wickets up front for us in the first six overs. It is something we are hoping he will hopefully continue doing. It won’t be an easy game,” Sammy said.
 “The Australians are a good side. We give them that respect. But at the end of the day, it is another cricket match where it is a contest between bat and ball. The team that handles the pressure better and executes properly normally comes out on top. And we are hoping that it will be us tomorrow,” the skipper added.
Sammy also touched on the form of openers Dwayne Smith and Chris Gayle. In the opening match against India they added a solid partnership wicket and then posted 97 in the victory over Bangladesh.
“Chris is hitting the ball well, (Dwayne) Smith is hitting the ball well.
“They have put on good runs. Chris has not been his explosive self that we are used to and we still scored 170 against Bangladesh. Once we play like we know how to play T20, things will go according to plan.”
Badree is also cook-a-hoop about the damage the bowlers can do in the game’s shortest format.
 “Krishmar Santokie is known for his wicket-taking ability. That is very, very important in the Powerplay overs,” Badree said. “If you can take wickets, you can put pressure on the opposition batsmen. If you don’t take wickets, that means that the openers will be there and they will be able to score freely. So it is good bowling with him because he is someone who always gets early wickets with the new ball.
“In this tournament so far I have been getting early wickets as well. We have been working well with that partnership, he from one end, I from the next.
“As long as we can maintain getting early wickets and restricting the opposition in the first six overs, I think that is exactly what the team needs,” he said.

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