Thursday, March 5 – Port of Spain, Trinidad: West Indies skipper, Chris Gayle, has promised a positive approach from his team in the 5th and final Digicel Test beginning in Port of Spain, Trinidad Friday even though his side needs only a draw to wrap up a first series victory in five years.
“We don’t want to go in there with the mindset like we’re playing for a draw,” Gayle said after final training on Thursday. “We still have to go out there and play positive cricket. England has to throw everything at us and we expect it to be tough. We just have to go out there and do the basic things right.”
The West Indies can shake off years of mediocrity over the next week if it can maintain, or add to, its 1-0 lead in the five-match Digicel Series 2009. The Caribbean side has not tasted series success since 2004 against Bangladesh at home.
“We are just around the corner. We haven’t turned it as yet. There is still a long way to go,” Gayle said.
“This is actually a point where we can say, yes, we can turn the corner once we win the series. We have a hand on the trophy right now. We just have to see what happens in the next couple of days.”
Gayle said a series win would be a huge achievement for himself and his team: “England are still playing good cricket and they are ranked highly, above us. It something we have achieved to be leading a high-ranked team 1-0. They are definitely a strong team.
“(A series win) would mean a lot to me but not only as a captain, I put myself as a player, too, so to be part of it and enjoy the moment would be really, really nice to come out here and win the series. For the people of the Caribbean as well it would mean a lot to them. This is a big series.”
England skipper Andrew Strauss gave credit to Gayle and his West Indies team for its sound performances so far in this Digicel Series: “I think the West Indies have probably played better than we might have expected them to. But, at the same time, at the start of this series, we knew they had some world class performers.
“Certainly in Ramnaresh Sarwan, he’s proved a constant thorn in our side. Hopefully, he’ll get bored and tired of his batting and he’ll have a couple of loose dismissals this week.”
Strauss said his side will take a few more risks as it tried to level the series and retain the Wisden Trophy: “1-0 or 2-0 defeat, it’s still a defeat. So that’s not a massive issue for us. It’s more about winning the game.
“That’s the situation we’re in. We can either wallow in despair and think, oh, we might lose it or we can pick ourselves up and say, well, let’s win this game. It’s up to us and type of cricket we play this week.”
