'Zimbabwe result the right tonic for South Africa series'

I’m really pleased at the moment. We’ve just won the one-day series in Zimbabwe; team spirit and camaraderie is very high and my hamstring is on the mend.

It’s all looking quite good for us as we move on to South Africa today for the tougher half of our two-month tour. I look forward to us benefiting from the momentum and confidence which the guys have gained with our 3-1 series victory against Zimbabwe as we prepare to take on the highly-touted South Africans. It’s a major battle and we are up for the challenge but we know it will not be easy and the players are working hard to ensure we go out there in the best shape, form and frame of mind.

Our first match will be a day/night Twenty20 on Sunday at Port Elizabeth and I expect it to be a cracker with power hitters on both sides. I’m only sorry that – as I’m still recuperating from pulling my right hamstring in the second one-dayer in Zimbabwe – I will be on the sidelines but I’m sure the guys are going to give a great account of themselves and push South Africa all the way. We would love to have a reverse of the result of the opening match of the ICC Twenty20 World Championship last September in South Africa when we lost to the hosts in a high-scoring affair.

The Twenty20 game will be followed by three Tests, a second Twenty20 encounter and finally five one-dayers before we return home in early February. There’s a long road ahead but we mean business and we are going to give our best for the West Indies and our devoted fans. I hope that the latter are as upbeat as we are with our success over Zimbabwe, though we lost the first game and the rain washed out the fifth and final match yesterday.

We beat the home side three times straight and, on each occasion, fairly easily. It’s a tremendous feeling to win away from the Caribbean, and watching how the guys went about their task truly impressed me. It was a real team effort throughout, with everyone chipping in. I have to give stand-in captain, Dwayne Bravo, a lot of credit and commend his handling of the unit in his first outing in charge. He never panicked or became frustrated. I hope he learns from this and gets more experience. He is definitely a future prospect for the captaincy of the West Indies.

I also want to highlight the contributions of a number of players. Runako Morton was outstanding with the bat with scores of 54, 79, 38 and another 79 in the four ODIs which were played. This is the kind of consistency we need from batsmen and I hope he can maintain it. Shivnarine Chanderpaul also got a century in the first game and is looking good and we will need his knowledge and experience in South Africa. Marlon Samuels got some runs as well and hopefully that’s a sign of things to come. In the bowling, Jerome Taylor stood out with two Man-of-the-Match performances in the third and fourth One-Dayers and the overall Man-of-the-Series accolade with 11 wickets. I know he will be looking to improve from hereon and the Windies will be depending on him. Ravi Rampaul, Darren Powell and Bravo also served us well as did Rawl Lewis whose leg-spin played a big part.

Some of the guys didn’t get to play in Zimbabwe but I hope they keep their spirits up and are ready whenever the time comes. There’s a lot of cricket left on this tour and we must continue working hard and always remember that nothing worthwhile comes easy. Team unity is really strong at the moment; everyone is helping each other out and enjoying each other’s company. That’s a key factor in team sports and we want to keep those vibes going in our camp.

Quickly, there are two more things which I’d like to mention. The first is that my right hamstring is getting better and better every day but there’s still no set date for me to resume training or playing. I’m walking much more freely now and I’ve started doing some stretches to test my hamstring. Team physio, Jacqui King-Mowatt, is treating me and monitoring the situation.

Finally, I wish to thank the Zimbabwe Cricket Union (ZCU) and all those who were involved in hosting the West Indies while we were in Zimbabwe. We were well accommodated and looked after and the hospitality was fabulous. The team sincerely appreciated all the effort which went into ensuring that we were comfortable and made to feel at home in Zimbabwe.

Thanks one and all.