BULAWAYO, Zimbabwe (CMC) – West Indies may be the odds on favourite but they appear to be taking nothing for granted when they face Zimbabwe on Friday in a do-or-die clash of the Tri-Nations series which reaches a peak here on Sunday.
Captain Jason Holder says he expects Zimbabwe to come out blasting on all cylinders, still fired-up from their miraculous come-from-behind effort to force a tie against his side on Saturday.
Both teams are desperate for a first win in Bulawayo, in a match which is essentially a semi-final, with the winner advancing to Sunday’s final against Sri Lanka.
“I expect good competition again .They played a very good game against us the last time and I expect nothing different from them,” said Holder.
“Their tails will be up seeing this result and still have a chance to go through so the situation is for us to buckle up and close-up these close games”.
West Indies coach Roddy Estwick believes his players have been committing too many unforced errors and has appealed for more discipline.
“Yesterday we were to full in the first ten overs, we leaked 71 runs and we did not show the discipline we had previously. We were not hitting the pitches hard as I would like,” said Estwick, after a training session on Thursday afternoon.
“Hopefully we can get back to hitting those lengths. I found once we hit the pitch hard and we made the Sri Lankans play of the back foot they tend to struggle”.
Sri Lanka lead the points table with 11 points from four matches, West Indies have seven from three matches while Zimbabwe have four from three matches.
The Windies have the leading performers in the tournament so far.
Evin Lewis hit a career-best 148 off 122 balls against the Sri Lanka and heads the batting charts with 193 runs in three innings.
Shai Hope, who made his maiden century (101) in the second match, has 173 runs.
This is Hope’s first ODI series with the gloves and he is yet to concede a bye.
“It is a must-win situation we are in against Zimbabwe,”said Lewis whose maiden ODI century brought West Indies within striking distance before losing to Sri Lanka by one run in Wednesday’s thriller.
“We have to go out there and regroup as a team and play our best cricket”.
The left-hander who was promoted to the opening spot and recorded his second international century of the year following his 100 against India in the T20 Series in Florida, battled cramps in the latter stages of his innings.
However, the Windies skipper has suggested that Lewis would be ready to resume his battle on Friday.
“He was there out in the field for 50 overs fielding, and then came back to bat through most of the overs,” Holder said.
“It was a bit of cramp, and I don’t think it was anything too serious.”
There are doubts over whether fast bowler Shannon Gabriel will play against Zimbabwe after he limped off with a hamstring niggle after bowling only five overs against Sri Lanka.
Miguel Cummins may take his place in the team for Friday’s crucial encounter.
“We have to see what the conditions serve up for us and we are just managing some niggles,” said Holder, the joint leading wicket-taker with seven wickets.
“Shannon was not able to finish today so I am not sure that he will be able to bowl in the next game but we will see”.
Holder is followed by Gabriel six wickets and seamer Carlos Brathwaite also six wickets.
Brathwaite recorded career-best figures of 4-48 against Zimbabwe – the best of the tournament so far.