Despite West Indies’ win in their first warm-up match ahead of the ICC Twenty20 World Cup which begins in just under a week, assistant and bowling coach Roddy Estwick says the squad still has some work to do.
West Indies registered a comfortable 17-run win over minnows United Arab Emirates at the Junction Oval in Melbourne on Monday.
“Any game that you go into you want to win and you want to try and plan properly and execute those plans properly. There are still one or two areas that we need to work on,” said Estwick after the game.
“We lost some early wickets; we didn’t assess the conditions as you would like.”
However, Estwick acknowledged the polished half-century from Brandon King and an incisive spell of bowling from Raymon Reifer that handed the two-time World Cup champions the warm-up win.
The stylish King led the batting with 64 off 45 balls with seven fours and two sixes, helping West Indies to post 152 for nine from their 20 overs after they were sent in.
“He continues to improve and that’s a good thing. He has an appetite for big runs. We’re looking at phases for each batsman and when you look at Brandon’s phases, it goes from first over down to 20, so you know that he’s very, very capable of making big scores,” Estwick said of King who went in at number three.
“…. He looks in good touch and hopefully he’ll continue right throughout the series.”
Reifer was introduced into the bowling attack when left-hander Yannic Cariah was struck on the right hand by a rising delivery and retired from the game.
West Indies at that time required a rate of 7.5 runs per over, and Reifer got the ball to swing both ways with his left-arm medium pace, taking three wickets in the space of 11 balls as UAE innings went into rapid decline.
Estwick was not surprised at that performance.
“With Raymond, you know what you’re gonna get – you’re gonna get 100 percent every time…. Raymond has never let anyone down because he’s such a determined and hardworking guy, you know, so you’re obviously happy for him when he does well,” he said.
The assistant coach was also pleased that captain Nicholas Pooran was able to score 46 off 31 deliveries. The skipper and King had rallied the innings in a 95-run, fourth wicket stand.
West Indies will remain in Melbourne where they are scheduled to have their second warm-up match against the Netherlands on Wednesday night at the MCG.
From there, the Caribbean men who are in Group B of the tournament will travel to Hobart, Tasmania for Round One in which they will face Scotland on October 17, Zimbabwe on October 19, and Ireland on October 21.
CMC/
