Windies ready and positive
10/12/2007 21:34  - (SA)  

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Windies to turn things round? Windies as poor as Black Caps Zimbabwe stun Windies in ODI

Christo Buchner , Beeld

Johannesburg - West Indies cricket captain Chris Gayle says he feels like a cat with a bowl of cream in front of him.

Victory in the one-day series in Zimbabwe, a good team spirit and the way his hamstring injury is clearing up, have put Gayle in a positive frame of mind for the upcoming matches against South Africa.

The team arrived here on Monday and Gayle immediately made it clear that he was realistic enough to know the competition during the next two months will be decidedly stiffer than it was in Zimbabwe.

"We are looking forward to the Twenty20 match in Port Elizabeth on Sunday," he said. "We hope it will be as exciting as the one during the world championships at the Wanderers earlier this year."

Gayle scored the first century in Twenty20 cricket in that match but his team still lost.

"I am satisfied with the team effort in Zimbabwe," he said on Monday. "It was a wonderful feeling to win away from home; something we have not often achieved during the past few years."

Gayle praised vice-captain Dwayne Bravo, who had been in charge during the past few matches.

Spirit of togetherness

"Dwayne never became panicky or frustrated. He is a strong candidate to take over the captaincy on a fulltime basis."

The skipper also made special mention of top-order batsman Runako Morton, who posted scores of 54, 79, 38 and 79 in the one-day internationals against Zimbabwe.

"That is the sort of consistency we want from our batsmen. I hope he can continue in that vein.

"I was also satisfied with the performances of Marlon Samuels and Jerome Taylor. Ravi Rampaul, Daren Powell and Rawl Lewis also played well," Gayle said.

"Our motto for this tour is that nothing worth while will come easily. There is a spirit of togetherness in the team and we are helping each other. That is important to achieve success and we want to retain that atmosphere."

Talking about his injury, Gayle said he was moving more easily than a few days ago and he was hoping to be fit for the first Test.

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