Windies touch down in Canberra for Zimbabwe assignment

Canberra, Feb 23 (IANS) A buoyant West Indies arrived here to begin final preparations for their third game of the cricket World Cup against Zimbabwe Tuesday.

The squad took the three-hour flight from Christchurch, where 48 hours earlier they had downed Pakistan by 150 runs, to seal their first win of the tournament, reports CMC.

They will have the day off Monday for rest and recovery, especially with a schedule that sees them playing three matches in the space of seven days. They will do light gym work.

West Indies will be without left-handed batsman Darren Bravo for the next couple of games after the Trinidadian suffered a lower-grade tear to his left hamstring while batting against Pakistan.

The Caribbean side is also monitoring the progress of all-rounder Darren Sammy, left-arm spinner Sulieman Benn and opener Chris Gayle who are all carrying small niggles.

Saturday’s victory represented a major comeback by the West Indies after going down by four wickets in a shock defeat to minnows Ireland last week.

West Indies will now target their second straight win when they come up against the Zimbabweans at Manuka Oval here.

They lie second in Group B on two points behind unbeaten leaders and reigning World champions India, and know that a victory will give them much needed breathing space.

Like the West Indies, Zimbabwe opened with a defeat after losing to South Africa by 62 runs but followed up with a four-wicket win over Afghanistan.