Sydney, Feb 26 (IANS) A buoyant West Indies will try to defy a recent run of poor results and extend their winning streak when they take on South Africa in a crucial cricket World Cup Pool B match here Friday.
Only last month, the Caribbean side was completely outplayed by the Proteas on African soil, battered 1-4 in a five-match One-Day International (ODI) series where it appeared out of its depth at times, reports CMC.
And the stats make for dire reading. The one-wicket win in Port Elizabeth last month was the first time the West Indies had beaten South Africa in an ODI in nine years.
More depressingly, in the three previous bilateral series, South Africa swept the Caribbean side 5-0 in each. In their last World Cup meeting in India four years ago, South Africa came away with a comfortable seven-wicket triumph in Delhi.
It underscores the nature of the task the West Indies face when they walk out at the Sydney Cricket Ground (SCG) Friday.
Importantly, however, they enter the contest on the back of a good run, having defeated Pakistan and Zimbabwe convincingly to compensate for their embarrassing loss to Ireland in their opening game.
Coach Stuart Williams Thursday said the side had learnt a lot from the recent South Africa series and believes the next meeting between the two sides can be different.
“The series against South Africa was more about learning about our game and where we need to go. We were playing the number one team in the world. Now it's not a series. It's just a one-off game in the World Cup. So it's a different mind-set, and we're prepared for Friday,” Williams pointed out.
“The guys have been (supporting each other), they have been working hard, they have been responding to my coaching and we’ve been doing fine up to this day.”
West Indies have responded brilliantly ever since losing to Ireland. Against Pakistan, they amassed 310 and then wiped out their opponents for 160, in a clinical all-round effort at Hagley Oval in Christchurch.
They stepped it up in even further against Zimbabwe, piling up an incredible 372 for two - the fifth highest total in a World Cup game - to trounce the Africans by 73 runs in Canberra.
On the heels of these performances, Williams believes the Windies are beginning to fire on all cylinders. While he praised the batting unit, he said the bowlers are also now starting to find their momentum.
“We always stress on roles and achieving our goals in the team. Lendl Simmons has been doing well for us also, he has a hundred and a fifty in another game … (Denesh) Ramdin has been doing well and everybody has been chipping in and contributing, including (Darren) Sammy and (Andre) Russell,” Williams explained.
“But I think we had a question mark over our bowling from the Ireland game and from since that (game), Jerome Taylor put up his hand, being the senior statesman and leading our attack. He’s put up his hand and is doing a good job for us," he added.
Especially heartening for the West Indies camp has been the return to form of talisman Gayle. The usually prolific opener has struggled over the last 20 months, with just a half-century and an average of 14 to show for his efforts.
However, he came big against Zimbabwe with a stunning 215 - the first double century in a World Cup and the fastest one ever - to end his worrying slump.
Together with Marlon Samuels, who hit a career-best 133 not out, they put on 372 for the first wicket - the highest partnership for any wicket in ODIs.
With Gayle in form, the West Indies will be even more confident of a positive result, and Williams said it was a plus seeing both Gayle and Samuels hit form at such a critical time in the tournament.
Bravo has been ruled out of consideration for the South Africa game, having failed to recover from a hamstring injury.
Inflation in India: Inflation hit, food prices increase drastically in one year
Inflation in India: There has been a tremendous increase in the prices of food and drink in a year. Despite the efforts of the government, the prices are not being controlled. Even the price of salt
Parliament Session: 'No one can escape easily in the House', why did Kiren Rijiju say this about Rahul Gandhi
The BJP has served a notice to the Speaker over alleged inaccuracies in the speech of the Leader of the Opposition Rahul Gandhi in Lok Sabha. A day after the notice, Parliamentary Affairs Minister
Congress hits out at Modi for 'Favouring' Corporates
New Delhi, Feb 25 (IANS) Hitting out at the prime minister on the land acquisition ordinance, which is seen as favouring corporate houses, the Congress Wednesday charged Narendra Modi with failing
Helicopter as a gift to Imran: Farah, who fled to Dubai by duping billions, paid; Khan said - the gift of fans
After the fall of the government, Imran Khan is holding tremendous rallies across Pakistan. In these rallies, the army is being targeted more than the Shahbaz Sharif regime. The reason for this is
Sunil Grover: Heart surgery done by Sunil Grover, health is already improving
'Gutthi' and 'Dr. Mashoor Gulati is coming out from Mumbai regarding the health of famous actor and comedian 'Sunil Grover', who made a place in the hearts of the audience by playing the role of
Ind vs SA: Team India will go against South Africa to create a new record in T20I under the captaincy of Rishabh Pant
Rishabh Pant has captained many matches for his team Delhi Capitals in IPL and now his captaincy is to be against South Africa in the first T20 International match against Test South Africa in Delhi.
Coronavirus Updates: 1 lakh 79 thousand new cases of corona in the country, cases increased by 12.6 percent
There is no brake on the speed of corona infection in the country. In the last 24 hours, 1,79,723 new cases of corona have been reported. During this, 46,569 patients have also recovered from Corona.
Violence was seen across the country for alcohol, people started in line since morning
In the third phase of lockdown (liquor shops) have been opened. People living without alcohol for nearly one and a half months looked so desperate that a long line was put out of contracts since
MP Corona Update: 1760 new patients were found on Sunday, 4 died, positivity rate reduced to 2.50 percent
The number of corona infections is decreasing rapidly in Madhya Pradesh. On Sunday, in 70 thousand 409 investigations in the state, 1760 new infected were found and 4555 patients were cured. At the
Over 48 thousand cases increased in a single day, 33 thousand people were cured, 755 died; 12.88 lakh cases so far in the country
The number of corona patients in the country has been 12 lakh 88 thousand 130. On Thursday, a record 48 thousand 446 people were found corona infected. So far, this figure is the highest in a day. On
