Windies won’t take Irish lightly, assures Ramdin

NELSON, New Zealand, (CMC) – Senior player Denesh Ramdin says West Indies will not take anything for granted against Ireland, in their opening game of the ICC World Cup which bowls off here tomorrow.He said with a win crucially important to the team’s momentum, West Indies would be going all out to ensure they started the tournament on a high.

“We know the Irish. They have a very disciplined bowling line up, they have some good batsmen in there as well so we don’t need to take them lightly,” the first choice wicketkeeper said.
“It is very important that we go out and play good positive cricket and try to beat them in all departments and come up trumps in that game.”
West Indies have a rocky build up to the tournament. Coming off a 4-1 thrashing at the hands of South Africa there last month, they also crashed to a bad nine-wicket defeat at the hands of England in their opening official warm-up earlier this week, when they were bowled out for 122.
Then, they narrowly escaped with a three-run victory against Scotland in their second warm-up, despite making 313.
Ramdin said, however, there was a good vibe in the camp and players were still working hard and anxious to do well.
“The spirit has been good so far. I just think we need to get some partnerships at the top of the order and get things going. Some of the guys are low on confidence but having said that, the middle order had a good outing in the last game against Scotland,” he pointed out.
“All the guys have been putting in a lot of hard work so we are very excited as well to get it started, and try and get another win under our belts as quickly as possible, and get this tournament kick started.”
With West Indies’ batting suspect, Ramdin’s role in the team has become critical. The Trinidadian has been in decent form of recent and believes his brand of attacking cricket down the order will be vital.
“My role in the middle order is very important, I have to try and bat as many overs as possible and give the power hitters – (Darren) Sammy, (Andre) Russell and those guys – the chance to come in and strike the ball and give our bowlers something to defend,” he stressed.
“It’s a good experience for me again to share my experience with the other players who haven’t played here. It is a big occasion, the World Cups are very exciting.”
West Indies have been installed in Group B of the World Cup alongside the likes of reigning champions India, South Africa, Pakistan, Zimbabwe and the United Arab Emirates.