SOUTHAMPTON, England – West Indies captain Jason Holder spoke to members of the media ahead of the fourth match of the ICC Cricket World Cup. West Indies, two-time World Cup winners, will face the host nation at the Hampshire Bowl on Friday. First ball is 10:30am (5:30am Eastern Caribbean Time/4:30am Jamaica Time).
West Indies enter the match with a 1-1-1 record: they had a huge win by seven wickets against Pakistan; lost a close contest to Australia by 15 runs; and had the third match against South Africa rained off.
Holder said despite the rain and inclement weather in the build-up to the contest, his players remained fully focused on what is required. He said the West Indies will take confidence from the outstanding display against England in the Caribbean earlier this year, as well as the aggressive and attractive brand of play in the opening three matches here in English conditions.
“We have gone really well with the ball so far, in taking new ball wickets and bowling two teams out in the games we have played. In terms of our fielding, we could definitely touch up there, but I think generally over the last couple of months, if you look at our fielding overall, we have improved a lot in this World Cup so far. As a batting unit, we just had a plan against Australia so if we get ourselves back into that situation, we just need to take a little bit more responsibility and take the game home,” Holder said.
“I think the brand of cricket we have been playing so far in this World Cup, you know what to expect of West Indies now … we are not going to back down from the challenge. Most of our guys are always up for the challenge and it is just a matter for us to be smart. And I don’t think there is anything else to be said, just be smart and play the brand of cricket we want to play.
Follow West Indies: www.windiescricket.com
Follow The Tournament: https://www.cricketworldcup.com
Coverage will be LIVE on ESPN and ESPN2 in the Caribbean. ESPN Play – ESPN’s multiscreen live and on-demand broadband service – will stream all the matches.
FULL SQUAD
Jason Holder (Captain)
Chris Gayle (Vice Captain)
Fabian Allen
Carlos Brathwaite
Darren Bravo
Sheldon Cottrell
Shannon Gabriel
Shimron Hetmyer
Shai Hope
Evin Lewis
Ashley Nurse
Nicholas Pooran
Kemar Roach
Andre Russell
Oshane Thomas
MATCH SCHEDULE
(First ball is 5:30am Eastern Caribbean/4:30am Jamaica; unless otherwise stated)
Friday, May 31: vs Pakistan at Trent Bridge, Nottingham
West Indies won by 7 wickets; Details: https://bit.ly/31emdPM
Thursday, June 6: vs Australia at Trent Bridge, Nottingham
Australia won by 15 runs; Details: https://bit.ly/2QSdU7v
Monday, June 10: vs South Africa at Hampshire Bowl, Southampton
No result due to rain; Details: https://bit.ly/2I5ZA8w
Friday, June 14: vs England at Hampshire Bowl, Southampton
Monday, June 17: vs Bangladesh at the County Ground, Taunton
Saturday, June 22: vs New Zealand at Old Trafford, Manchester (8:30am EC Time/7:30am Jamaica)
Thursday, June 27: vs India at Old Trafford, Manchester
Monday, July 1: vs Sri Lanka – at the Riverside Ground, Chester-le-Street
Thursday, July 4: vs Afghanistan at Headingley, Leeds
Semi-Finals
Tuesday, July 9: 1st vs 4th at Old Trafford, Manchester
Thursday, July 11: 2nd vs 3rd at Edgbaston, Birmingham
The Final
Sunday, July 14: Semi-final Winner 1 vs Semi-final Winner 2 at Lord’s
July 15: Reserve Day
-CWI
