Dujon Pleased With Progress

St. George's - As they promised to maintain the type of positive cricket they have displayed in recent weeks, a member of the new West Indies management team is reporting significant progress since assuming his post.

Assistant coach Jeffrey Dujon said yesterday he was encouraged by the team's performance and the way the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) had responded to the demands of the team.

'I'm very satisfied. The board has bent over backwards to create the kind of conditions that we need,' he said during a practice session at the St. George's University on the island's south coast.

'It's a very good working atmosphere. We're making effective progress. I really can't complain.

'The players are happy, which is the important thing.

'We are very much in a progressive phase of West Indies cricket and things can only get better from here on,' added the former Jamaica captain and West Indies wicket-keeper, who played 81 Tests between 1979 and 1991.

His comments came ahead of the final phase of the preliminary rounds of the region's first ever triangular limited-overs competition.

Pakistan defeated Zimbabwe in the first of two back-to-back matches at the Queen's Park Stadium yesterday and the victory for the Asians assured them of a place in the finals against the West Indies.

West Indies, boasting an unbeaten record in their three matches, were long assured of their place in the two-best-of-three finals, but Dujon insisted there would be no easing up when they oppose Pakistan today.

Off-spinner Nehemiah Perry replaces veteran fast bowler Curtly Ambrose who is being rested.

'These guys are all pumped up now and they are very confident. They want to win and we're not going to discourage that. We're going to go out there and try and win every game that we play,' he said.

Dujon, scorer of 3 322 (average 31.94) Test runs and holder of 272 dismissals, added that the team had carefully followed their instructions in their opening match against Pakistan, which they easily won by 96 runs at the Arnos Vale Playing Field on Wednesday.

'We made a plan for that game and to the players' credit, they followed it to the letter,' he said.

'We plan to approach it with the same positive, aggressive attitude and same methodical way we have approached every thing so far.

'It's really up to Pakistan how well they can manage to play, because our intention is to stop them from doing well.'

A victory for Pakistan over Zimbabwe today automatically assures them a place in the finals.

Zimbabwe can only advance if Pakistan lose both matches over the weekend. If that is the case, both sides will finish with two points and the finalist will be determined by which team has the better net run-rate.