Reifer seeks one last hurrah
The West Indies captain wants his players to improve their game as they head into their last Champions Trophy Group A match on Wednesday against India
Cricinfo staff
28-Sep-2009
Floyd Reifer: 'The important thing for us is to know that we are improving.' • Getty Images
West Indies captain Floyd Reifer wants his players to improve their game as they head into their last Champions Trophy Group A match on Wednesday against India. Despite being without their top-flight players - after a players' dispute with the board - West Indies have drawn Pakistan and Australia close in their two previous encounters and have reason to go into the match in Johannesburg with their heads up.
"We have played pretty well," Reifer told the Caribbean Media Corporation. "The important thing for us is to know that we are improving."
The 'second-string' squad bowled very well during their five-wicket defeat at the hands of Pakistan in the first match and lost to the Australia by 50 runs after having the defending champions at 171 for 7 at one stage.
Reifer said the players should be proud of their efforts so far but called for another big effort when they faced the Indians. "From the first game to this one we have gotten better, as a team and as individuals," Reifer said. "Looking at the two games we've played, against Pakistan if we had 40 more runs, things could have been different. And against Australia we were in the game into the 40th over. It's been a great effort."
West Indies will have two more training sessions at the St David's School in Johannesburg before Wednesday's match and Reifer said the players will be doing more mental and physical preparation.
"As we play as a team, stick together and keep working hard, improving our skills, we will get better," he said. "We must show improvement, though. We still have more time to prepare and improve our skills and our mental attitude. Getting to international standards is all about the mental attitude.
"We try to encourage the players to learn and learn fast. This is international cricket and not like domestic cricket we play back at home. We talk a lot. We talk through situations that are going to happen in the game and we ask the guys to improve, to talk cricket, to improve their all-round game - batting, bowling and fielding."