West Indies in good form ahead of opening game

Head coach Rohan Nurse has declared himself happy with the team’s build up and preparations, as the West Indies Under-19 team prepares for its first game of the ICC Cricket World Cup against Tanzania in Windhoek, Namibia tomorrow.

His comments came after the regional side eased to an emphatic 229-run victory over Japan in their final warmup match on Tuesday.

“The acclimatisation process is still actually going on, because ultimately we would have traveled for two days and then had a practice session, a shorter practice session due to weather, before going straight into the first warm-up game.”

“Being higher in altitude, the air is thinner, so the players are going through that as well, but I think they are slowly but surely getting there and the staff has worked very hard behind the scenes to put things in place to help them,” Nurse said.

In the warm up encounter, West Indies set Japan an imposing 347 to win, as Tanez Francis smashed 122 not out, while Shamar Apple added 124 from just 65 deliveries. 

In reply Japan crashed to 117 all out, as R’Jai Gittens took four for eight, while Vitel Lawes grabbed three wickets.

The all-round performance was praised by Nurse.

“The batting performance was relatively good, knowing that we had some information with regards to the conditions, what the par score rate is at that ground. The surface was a little up and down and stopping as well, but we wanted to use the opportunity to have a bat, to adapt to what conditions were there,” Nurse explained.

“Lots of the batters would have gotten starts and unfortunately they really failed to carry on once they got in.”

Nurse was especially impressed with the manner in which Francis managed his innings at the top of the order.

“Tanez batted very well battling through the innings; he was the anchor and his calmness, especially when he transitioned from 50 to 80 was very good in terms of strike rotation, facilitating Shamar who was definitely striking the ball really well,” the head coach said.

“Once Shamar got out, Tanez then was able to express himself a little bit more, but he played very maturely and those two young men batted well in partnership. It was very pleasing for the two youngest members of the team to show the ability, understanding and their growth, and to score a century at this level. While it came in a warm-up game, it was still very valuable for them and their development and confidence.”

Nurse maintained that every game in the World Cup was important, including the warm-up game.

The game between West Indies and Tanzania in Group D is one of three that gets underway tomorrow morning at 3:30 a.m., Barbados time.

In Group B, India face USA, while in Group C, Zimbabwe oppose Scotland.