Holder hopes for Windies upturn

West Indies captain Jason Holder is hoping his side can put their recent poor form behind them as they prepare to take on Sri Lanka in their opening tri-series game in Harare.*

The West Indies suffered a 3-0 whitewash at the hands of Pakistan last month and have been in poor form in the fifty over format over the last year or so losing 12 out of 16 ODIs in bilateral series.

The batting department appears to be the West Indies biggest problem. In the recent series against Pakistan Marlon Samuels top scored with 116 runs at an average of 38.66 and only two West Indians could pass fifty in three innings while Pakistan notched four centuries and three fifties.

The Jamaica Gleaner have reported that Holder said: “I think it is a situation where we need to come together as a team. We’ve struggled in the last few one-day series in terms of batting the 50 overs and that is one area we have addressed.

“In terms of the bowling, we need to be a lot better in the first power play, and then we have to close in the last 10 overs. Those are the significant areas we have paid some attention to.

“I think once we do that and we string some big partnerships [together]. In the past, I think we have found ourselves getting a lot of starts but not carrying on – we leave less for the middle and lower order to do.”

Holder believes the West Indies are in for a tough series and will remember that Sri Lanka whitewashed the men from the Caribbean in their last meeting in 2015.

The skipper went on: “It’s going to be tough. Obviously, they are two good teams. Sri Lanka play good cricket, and, obviously, are of a higher rank than us, and Zimbabwe have a point to prove.

“They are playing in their backyard as well, so they will be [familiar] with their conditions. It’s a situation where we have to assess as early as possible and go out and play some good aggressive cricket.”

The West Indies gathered for a training camp in the North West Province in South Africa which sports similar conditions to what they will encounter in Zimbabwe.

Holder said of the camp: “We had a good week in Potchefstroom. I thought the guys had a few days off to catch themselves and recuperate after the long series in Dubai.

“It’s just a situation where we got what we wanted out of the training camp and moving into the [Tri-Nations Series]. I think we are much better prepared.” In the opening match of the tri-series on Monday, Sri Lanka thrashed Zimbabwe by eight wickets at Harare.