Windies can still win one-day series

Ramnaresh Sarwan

West Indies have an opportunity to rebound in the one-day internationals against South Africa with two matches this weekend (today and Sunday) in the five-rubber series. They are currently 1-0 down to the hosts but I believe that, if the team can recapture the consistency and focus which they had earlier in the tour, they can be victorious.

The guys performed creditably in the second Twenty20 International and the first one-dayer last weekend and, with a little luck, they could have won those games. Improved performances with both bat and ball would be the decisive difference. While they will miss Chris Gayle’s inspirational leadership and influence – now that he has returned home due to injury – it’s important that the Windies stick together and support Dwayne [Bravo] in these remaining four matches.

A critical factor will be for the team to capitalise when they have the momentum and not let South Africa off the hook. I look forward to some exciting action on television and hope that things fall into place for my team-mates this weekend.

Meanwhile, here in the Caribbean, the focus will be on the second edition of the Stanford 20/20 Tournament which gets underway this weekend in Antigua.

As the defending champions in this spectacular event, we in Guyana will obviously be looking to repeat last year’s success and take home the US$1 million winners’ cheque again. However, I expect it will be much more competitive on this occasion with teams having a better grasp of what’s required in Twenty20 cricket. Last year, Twenty20 was still a fairly new concept but its popularity has grown immeasurably since then and cricketers worldwide have become more adept at playing this form of the game.

In short, we have our work cut out for us if we are to prevail once more as the kings of fast-food cricket in the Caribbean. The Guyanese squad has already undergone a number of camps and training sessions and our build-up continues until February 8 when we leave to embark on our mission. I hope we can also have a few practice games to help us fine-tune things.

Our unit for the 20/20 outing will be significantly different from the side that has been representing Guyana in the Carib Beer Cricket Series. We are bringing back experienced allrounders, such as Neil McGarrell, Mahendra Nagamootoo and Lennox Cush. That’s what Twenty20 matches need – persons who can bat and bowl so that a team has as much depth as possible.

I’m looking forward to playing in this event again and having not scored many runs in last week’s Carib Beer Cricket Series match against Jamaica – which we lost in three days – I am also keen to get back in form quickly. It will also be another step in my rehabilitation en route to playing for West Indies again. My ankle has been improving slowly but surely and I want to see how it will hold up during the rigorous and hectic schedule we will face in Antigua.

I trust this competition will go a long way to testing just how fit and ready I am to return to the Windies fold.