West Indies assistant coach Roddy Estwick believes the coming tri-series against Ireland and Bangladesh presents an opportunity for the young players to gain experience and for the World-Cup bound players to get some useful match practice.
The West Indies arrived in Ireland on Wednesday evening to begin preparation for the series in which they play their opening match against the host nation this Sunday at the Clontarf Cricket Ground in Dublin.
The first ball is 10:30 am (5:30 am Eastern Caribbean Time/4:30 am Jamaica Time).
“It should be a great experience for a lot of the younger players. It is an opportunity for them to showcase their talents at this level. A lot of them haven’t played for the West Indies at this level before so it’s a great opportunity for them,” Estwick said.
“Even though they’re not going to the World Cup, it’s still important they go out and play good cricket and the ones that are going to the World Cup, this is the chance to get in some meaningful practice, so this tournament is going to be very important for a lot of different reasons.”
The two-time World Champions will use the upcoming tournament as part of their preparations for the ICC Cricket World Cup 2019 England & Wales from May 30 to July 14. Estwick said the focus would be on playing good cricket.
“You obviously want to win, you don’t go into any series not looking to win, but what you want is for us to play good cricket, execute our plans well, enjoy each other’s company,” he said.
At the end of the Tri-Nations Series, West Indies will travel to England for a pre-World Cup camp. They will then have official World Cup warm-up matches against South Africa and New Zealand at the County Ground in Bristol on May 26 and 28, respectively.
West Indies open the World Cup against Pakistan on May 31 at Trent Bridge.
West Indies have won the World Cup on two occasions – in 1975 and 1979 – both in England under the leadership of Clive Lloyd.
The squad: Jason Holder (Captain), Fabian Allen, Sunil Ambris, Darren Bravo, John Campbell, Jonathan Carter, Roston Chase, Sheldon Cottrell, Shane Dowrich, Shannon Gabriel, Shai Hope, Ashley Nurse, Raymon Reifer, and Kemar Roach.
Following the opening match on Sunday, the West Indies take on Bangladesh on Tuesday also at Clontarf.
Ireland take on Bangladesh at Malahide on May 9.
The West Indies play Ireland again on Saturday, May 11 at Malahide and then go up against Bangladesh also at the same venue on Monday, May 13.
Ireland will battle Bangladesh at Clontarf on May 15.
The final has been set for Malahide on Friday, May 17. (CMC)
