Pooran has faith in young team to deliver

Amid concern about experienced players not making themselves available, West Indies captain Nicholas Pooran said he was satisfied and confident in the team he will lead into three One-day Internationals against New Zealand this week in Barbados.

The three ODIs, which will all be day-night matches starting at 2 p.m. and played under the floodlights at Kensington Oval, take place on Wednesday, Friday, and Sunday.

West Indies will be fighting for their first ODI series win in two months, having last emerged victorious in a series in the format in June against the Netherlands and since then being whitewashed by India and Bangladesh at home and Pakistan away.

Pooran said while some members of the squad were not highly experienced, he was confident in their talent and their commitment to improvement as West Indies seek to break their ODI losing streak.

“Unfortunately, we disappoint at times, we’re not good at times, but … I’m happy with their effort,” he said.

“If you look back, these are the same guys who went to Pakistan twice in a COVID situation, then in a 45 to 50-degree temperature played their cricket, and these guys gained my respect and they’re giving their all for West Indies at the moment, so I’m really happy from a captain’s perspective.

“I’m really happy with who I have here. I believe in these guys and eventually, we’ll get to where we want to.”

Pooran added that they had learned plenty from the summer of losses.

“I think we have been playing well,” he said. “Out of the last three games, we played two wonderful games. Unfortunately, we haven’t crossed the line, but we had a long summer, and we have learnt a lot from these games that we have played. I think the guys are ready for this challenge.

“Bangladesh and India obviously really hurt us, but we feel like we’re in a good place as an ODI team at the moment. We know we have a young bunch of guys, but over the last couple of months, we’ve gained a lot of experience and knowledge.

“We know how important this series is for us as a group. Going into Barbados, we expect to have good cricket pitches, and hopefully, we can cross the line.”

The three matches in the ODI series against New Zealand are West Indies’ last remaining fixtures in the ICC ODI Super League to automatically qualify for the ICC Cricket World Cup 2023 India.

(CMC)