Dhaka, Bangladesh – The West Indies will have all 15 players available for selection when they face Pakistan in the all-important ICC Cricket World Cup 2011 quarter-final on Wednesday.
Fast bowler Kemar Roach and powerful opener Chris Gayle missed the last match against India but both players participated in Tuesday’s training session at the Sher-e-Bangla Stadium in Mirpur.
Roach is strong again after felling unwell and Gayle has recovered from an abdominal strain. Speaking after training, skipper Darren Sammy said the team was eagerly looking forward to the match and have the fire power to topple the Pakistanis and advance to the semi-finals.
“I liked the way Chris was hitting balls in the nets. He is very committed to the West Indies cause. Come tomorrow, and I have no doubt both he and Kemar will play. We will assess the conditions and discuss it amongst ourselves before finalising the team. We will put out the best possible team which can deal with the conditions,” Sammy said.
The West Indies return to the venue where they shot out Bangladesh for their lowest One-Day total of 58 in Group B to romp home by nine wickets in a match that lasted less than 40 overs.
“It is definitely an advantage to have played here earlier. We executed our plans well against Bangladesh and we will take confidence from that. We know what we have to do. It’s a big occasion and we feel up for it.”
Attention has been centred around the West Indies batting after two defeats against England and India.
“We did lose our way and can’t keep collapsing like that all the time. And we certainly can’t do that in a quarter-final. But I am confident we can put the past behind us. We are looking for a win. We played here and it was a perfect demonstration of a plan being executed. We will be taking confidence from that and looking to put in another good performance. It will be an exciting game,” Sammy said.
“Their captain has been the leading wicket taker in the tournament with 17 wickets. We will pay attention to that. They have two off-spinners and a left-arm spinner, we watched them play, we know what we are going to face. This is the quarter-final and everything depends on how we play on the day. It does not matter if you are Number 1 or Number 8. If you don’t win you are out, simple as that.”
