Windies plan to take the fight to Australia

Bridgetown (Barbados), Jan 25 (IANS/CMC) Captain Darren Sammy says the West Indies plan to play tough cricket against Australia when they meet in a five match One-Day International series starting early next month.

The tour starts with a game against a Ricky Ponting-led Prime Minister’s XI Jan 29 in Canberra before the West Indies players head to Perth for the first two ODIs, reports CMC.

Speaking to reporters just before the players left the Caribbean, Sammy said his team intend to take the fight to the Aussies.

“We are going down there confident and we are ready to play the game very hard. We expect Australia to come at us and we are not going to sit back and let it happen,”Sammy insisted.

“We are going to play the game in the true spirit that it should be played in but yet still we are going to play it tough.”

Sammy says his players are match ready having participated in the Caribbean T20 tournament which ended Sunday after two fiercely competitive weeks of exciting cricket.

The Windies captain says he is encouraged by the pitches in Australia which are similar to the one at the Beausejour Cricket Ground in St.Lucia where final matches in the Caribbean T20 tournament were played.

“The good thing for us is that we have been playing matches. Most if not all the guys in the squad have been playing in the Caribbean T20 and so we are match ready,” said Sammy.

“Going down to Australia to similar conditions like we experience in St.Lucia is good for the team. We are going down there and continue that one day series we had in the Caribbean where the scores were levelled at two-all. We are going out there to finish business down in Australia.”

—IANS/CMC

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IANS 2013-01-25 15:38:08