West Indies starting to shape up well: Gibson

Kingston, June 27 (IANS/CMC)

West Indies coach Ottis Gibson speaks during a press conference.

West Indies head coach Ottis Gibson said his boys are confident the regional side has the strength in the squad to win the CELKON Mobile Cup tri-nation series which starts here Friday.

An upbeat home side arrived in Jamaica Tuesday afternoon and had a full training session Wednesday morning at Sabina Park, reports CMC.

They will have another training session Thursday morning and their opening match will be against the Sri Lankans Friday at the same venue. Champions Trophy winners India are the third side.

Gibson remained confident about the team’s chances in the CELKON Mobile Cup, which will feature seven matches in two weeks.

Gibson, who has been at the helm for over three years and now has played a vital role in the team’s progress, said it was now crucial West Indies used their recent disappointments as motivation to succeed.

“We were a bit unfortunate with what happened in England. I think we were starting to shape up to do well in that tournament… it’s just to kick on from there,” said Gibson.

“It’s to put those little mistakes that we made in England, put them away. We felt we had a good opportunity to win that tournament and we want to win this one and prove ourselves right”.

The Windies made an early exit from the ICC Champions Trophy in England and Wales a fortnight ago and are aiming for reverse fortunes when they face Sri Lanka and India in the coming weeks.

India are coming off their capture of the ICC Champions Trophy while Sri Lanka reached the semi-finals.

“It is good to be back home and it is the first time we are playing a tri-nation tournament in quite a while so we are looking for positive results and we are looking to win it,” said Gibson.

“There’s more balance in the side and we are starting to believe a lot more that we can be the team that we want to be. We are starting to show the application and hopefully we will continue to show that development and progress.”

–IANS/CMC

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