Windies eye historic Test win in New Zealand

Having been competitive in both the preceding T20I and One Day International series against New Zealand, West Indies head coach Daren Sammy says the team is brimming with confidence ahead of their upcoming Test series.

The visitors last defeated the Kiwis in a Test series in the Caribbean in 2012 and will be searching for their first Test series win in New Zealand in over 30 years.

In fact, the West Indies have not won a Test match in New Zealand since 1987, when they drew the three-match series 1-1.

Despite their underwhelming record against the hosts, Sammy said he was impressed by his team’s mindset heading into the first Test, which bowls off on December 2.

The regional team will play a two-day warmup match against a New Zealand XI beginning on Wednesday.

“In the [T20I and ODI] series, we created so many opportunities to win. When I look at the seven games that were played, we were in contention to win five of them, but we let it slip away, but credit must go to New Zealand on how they’ve made home a fortress.”

“I was quite impressed with the positives that we had coming out of that series and now we’re in the Test match arena. We haven’t won here since 1995 – that’s 30 years – so we have a challenge on our hands,” Sammy told members of the media, following a practice session on Monday.

“But I was just watching these guys prepare and the intensity at training today is something that we’ve spoken about and to see the immediate reaction to the things that we want to see, I’m quite happy with the way preparations are going.”

Sammy said the West Indies were looking to upset New Zealand in the three-match series and end the year on a winning note.

He pointed out that the team had impressed in their last Test match against India and he was looking forward to them continuing in that vein.

“First, in order to win you must be able to compete, and we have to compete. I’m just watching the Ashes and the Test match went for two days, so you know it’s not only West Indies. Then I watched a Test match in South Africa with India, and I don’t think it went into the third day either. We came from India, and we pushed them into a fifth day in a Test match, something that has not been done in a while in India,” Sammy said.

“We might not have the numbers behind us coming into New Zealand, but I think the mindset that we have here and what we’re trying to create here is good, and it boils down to execution….One thing we’ve shown over here is that we challenge them. In the T20I series, in the ODI series, I don’t think the results reflected on how we played.”

(CMC)