Ramnaresh Sarwan ... aiming tobe mentally and physically strong for the World Cup. - Reuters JOHANNESBURG, South Africa:
West Indies captain Ramnaresh Sarwan sees flexibility and all-round depth as the key ingredients to success in the Twenty20 Cricket World Championship.
"You have to be flexible and leave options open, I'm sure there are times when you will have to promote batters who are more suitable to the situation, there are likely to be changes in terms of the batting order," Sarwan told journalists after the West Indies final practice session at the Wanderers yesterday afternoon ahead of their big opening encounter with host South Africa (starting 11:00a.m. local time).
Although he views Australia and South Africa as possible favourites to take the first-ever Twenty20 World title he reckons that his young team has as good a chance as any of prevailing.
"I think we have a very good chance, we haven't only played well in the warm-up games (v Kenya and New Zealand), but we played well in England, and it will give us a lot of confidence if we continue to play the way we have been playing.
"We have a very rounded team with a lot of all-rounders mixed with batters and in this form of the game you need those players who are all rounders," Sarwan reasonsed.
Another vital factor will be the performance of his fast bowlers up front.
"The fast bowlers up in front have a huge part to play in terms of restricting the opposition. There are six overs of fielding restrictions and the batsmen always try to make the best use of those six overs so the fast bowlers have their task cut out for them at the start of the innings. Fortunately for us, Daren (Powell) has been bowling pretty well along with Ravi (Rampaul) and Fidel (Edwards).
"It is a matter of us continuing and encouraging them to do the right things, the things which they have been doing so far which is being patient while getting the ball in the right areas."
Important basic principles
While there has been much discussion and new strategies being applied to this newest form of the game, Sarwan believes that the basic principles must still weigh heavily.
"For us it is a matter of us sticking to our plans like in any other game where we set ourselves plans and we want to achieve them, at the end of the day nothing has really changed much, the games goes at a very fast pace, but it is very important for us to stay focussed and concentrate on what we have to do," Sarwan assessed.
The right-handed batsmen also thinks that despite his team being a young one they must represent their region with passion and commitment.
"It is very important for us as a young team to give a good account of ourselves in this tournament," Sarwan said.
He sees the opening game at the Wanderers today against the host as a crucial encounter, which will set the tone for the tournament.
"It is a very big game, both teams will be gunning for the win, it will be a very good game, an interesting one and we'll be hoping to pull off a win like we did in the opening game in the World Cup a few years ago," the West Indies captain said.
