WELLINGTON, New Zealand:
WEST INDIES opening batsman Daren Ganga, who scored 54 in the first one-day game against New Zealand in Wellington, said that the West Indies team will need to regroup after their 81-run defeat on Saturday.
"Obviously we are disappointed with the loss. The thing about it is that it is the start of the series and we still have another four games to redeem ourselves," Ganga was quoted as saying in a report posted Sunday on the website www.windiescricket.com.
Referring to the second one-dayer that will be played tomorrow (4:30 p.m. today Jamaica time), Ganga said: "We'll be looking forward to that game against New Zealand in Queenstown, we've got to regroup and we'll be looking forward to that encounter and ensure that we put things right," said the right-hander who faced 77 deliveries.
Daren Ganga and Ramnaresh Sarwan added 88 in a third wicket stand after the early dismissal of Chris Gayle and Runako Morton.
Asked to assess when he thought the Windies lost the game, Ganga identified the 'middle overs'.
"I think it was in the middle overs, I think myself and Sars (Ramnaresh Sarwan who top- scored with 56) had a good partnership going, it was a bit unfortunate that I did not really carry on," the 27-year-old batsman said.
BATTER DOWN
"I thought it was important for either myself or Sarwan to carry on to ensure there was a top order batter down to the end of the innings, Sarwan got out, (I) got out, so there was no one to really anchor the innings," reasoned Ganga, who has returned to the Windies outfit after a one-year absence.
"I think we should have restricted New Zealand for a lot less than 280 but we didn't start (bowling) too well so I'm sure those are areas of our game we'll be targeting and we'll be up for a better showing in the next encounter," Ganga promised.
"I thought they (New Zealand) had a solid foundation (224 for 1) to propel themselves to a score of 300 but the (West Indies) slow bowlers played an important part in the game and it is obviously something we'll be taking into our thinking tank. I thought we stuck to the task well in the end after they got off to a good start," said Ganga who hit his ninth ODI fifty in the game.
(Article reprinted from website www.windiescricket.com)
