NEWS
Follow UsCo-hosts West Indies get their T20 World Cup 2024 campaign underway against Papua New Guinea (PNG) at the Providence Stadium, Guyana. While West Indies captain Rovman Powell is relishing the chance to play the marquee event in from of the home crowd, he sends a warning to the other teams participating.
West Indies are the fourth ranked T20I side in the world and have turned a corner since Powerll took over as skipper after their first round exit in the previous T20 World Cup. Powell believes that it will not be easy for the visiting teams to play cricket.
"I think cricket, T20 cricket in the Caribbean, you have to be a little flexible. There will come a time when you have to bat first on these bowler-friendly] wickets, and there will come a time when you have to chase. It's just being flexible," Powell said ahead of his side's game against PNG.
"And whatever you do in the Caribbean, you just have to do it well. That is as simple as it is. The Caribbean isn't an easy place for foreigners to come and play cricket, and we have seen that over the duration of cricket in the Caribbean. I think whatever we do, we have to do it good, whether it be batting first or batting second, and I think that's the same sentiment that goes out for the other for the other 20 teams that are in the World Cup."
West Indies go into the series at the back of an impressive series won over South Africa. In fact, the two-tim champions have lost just one of their last five series. On top of that, they smashed 257/4 against Australia in the warm-up game, with some key players getting some much-needed game time.
"I think the preparations over the last month or so have been very good. You know, we take pride in our series leading up to the World Cup because we realize how important it is to have series wins. Coming into a World Cup where you need those wins to use as additional confidence. And I think it has been good," Powell said.
"We have Daren Sammy, our coach, a two-time World Cup winner for the West Indies. That should provide us with additional resources that we need when things get tight, because he has been in the position already before. Hopefully his experiences, knowledge can spread across the group and be very fruitful for us in this World Cup."
Rain continues to threaten the tie at Providence - a venue which was considered a haven for spinners early on. However, Powell now believes that it has been better for the batters in the last few years.
"I think five years ago, it would have been such a spinning ground that it would be spin base. But over the last two- or three-years Providence has become a place where batters start like batting," Powell observes.
"So, we expect that you know we also have a lot of faith in the groundsman that they will prepare good wickets you know they have prepared good wickets here for CPL where you get scores close to 200 or just over 200. This is a World Cup we expect them to continue to provide good wickets not just for us as West Indians, not just for Papua New Guinea tomorrow, but for the whole duration of the World Cup. It's West Indies on the show. We would want to put on a proper show, whether it be from a curating standpoint or a cricketing standpoint."
Amid the rise and fall of West Indies cricket in recent times, Powell is happy to see three quality left-handed batters in the middle-orders - Nicholas Pooran, Shimron Hetmyer and Sherfane Rutherford - which Powell is pleased with.
"It has been a downfall for West Indies cricket for some time. But one of my pleasing thing with this team is that we have three quality left-handers in the middle. We have three quality left-handers in the middle, and not often a West Indies team has been selected with so much left-handers. So those left-handers should mitigate the left-arm spinner and the leg spinner within the middle-overs."
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