Gibson hopes for pace-friendly Barbados
Ottis
Gibson, the West Indies coach, is hoping that the team’s three pacemen
will find some teeth on the Kensington Oval pitch as West Indies chase a
series victory over New Zealand in the final Test, which starts on
Thursday.
The West Indies seamers found life difficult on a flat pitch at
Sabina Park, which West Indies lost by 186 runs inside four days, and
also struggled on a similar pitch at Queen’s Park Oval last week, though
the hosts pulled off a ten-wicket win in the end on that occasion.
Gibson said the victory had given West Indies momentum, adding that a
pacy pitch would provide the ideal conditions for his attack to
flourish. “Momentum is a great thing in sport. You hear people talk
about it in every sport and we have it at the moment and we need to use
it,” pointed out Gibson.
“We will have a look at the pitch and see what it holds. Kensington
always has a little bit in it for the bowlers. Trinidad was a very
un-Trinidad like pitch; it was a good pitch for batting and the bowlers
had to work hard. It was probably one of the best pitches I’ve seen in
Trinidad for a long time.
“Hopefully we’ll get a very good surface in Barbados, one that helps
our quick bowlers a little bit more than maybe Trinidad and Jamaica. Our
fast bowlers are bowling fantastically well so hopefully we get a pitch
that gives them a little bit of support and they can continue to bowl
the way they have been bowling and bowl us to a series win.”
Jerome Taylor and Kemar Roach, the top two pacemen, have performed
well in the series but without quite the numbers to match their efforts.
Taylor, in his first series in nearly five years, has taken ten wickets
while Roach has claimed seven. Shannon Gabriel, who missed the first
Test, picked up two wickets in each innings of the Trinidad Test.
“To win by ten wickets was brilliant and we are looking forward to
the next Test match and five intense days of Test cricket,” said Gibson.
“The Test cricket that we played in Trinidad, that is the sort of Test
cricket that we want to play. Obviously the opposition is not going to
allow you to play that sort of cricket all the time but that’s the
cricket we want to play and that’s what we will set out to do.”
Gibson praised the team for the way they approached the second Test,
noting that the batsmen played sensible cricket while the bowlers stuck
to their tasks. “After Jamaica, we were obviously very disappointed with
how we performed, and we sat and spoke about the response that was
needed and it was good to see them respond,” said Gibson. “The batsmen
spent a lot of time at the wicket and made runs. Young (Jermaine)
Blackwood has been making a lot of runs this year and we gave him an
opportunity and he came in and played really positively and was a joy to
see.
“I thought the bowlers bowled well in Jamaica and we backed it up in
Trinidad on a pitch where we had to work really hard. All in all it was a
very good response and we’ve just got to move on now.”
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Ottis Gibson, the West Indies coach, is hoping that the team’s three pacemen will find some teeth on the Kensington Oval pitch as West Indies chase a series victory over New Zealand in the final Test,
