West Indies skipper Darren Sammy said on Tuesday he hopes his team will perform well during their Sri Lankan tour, restoring pride and passion to the once mighty Caribbean side.
West Indies will play three Tests, five one-dayers and a Twenty20 international on the Sri Lanka trip, which begins with a three-day warm-up match at Colombo’s Sinhalese Sports Club grounds on Wednesday.
“We want to win, to play well and bring the passion and pride back to the West Indies,” Sammy told reporters ahead of the six-week tour.
West Indies cricket is going through a difficult time, after their opener and then captain Chris Gayle, and two key all-rounders, Dwayne Bravo and Kieron Pollard, turned down central contracts offered by the board last month.
In response Gayle was removed from the captaincy and replaced with 26-year-old Sammy, who has played only eight Tests since his international debut in 2007.
“We are a little bit inexperienced, young, but we have put in a good preparation work ahead of our coming here. I am looking forward to the practice game,” Sammy said.
The West Indies last toured Sri Lanka in 2005, where they played two Tests and lost to the hosts.
In the last six years Sri Lanka have won 17 out of the 25 Tests they have played at home, second only to Australia. The Windies’ away record in the same period is one win out of 25 Test matches.
Sri Lankan captain Kumar Sangakkara said he was looking forward to some competitive Test cricket and hoped to repeat the 2005 series victory.
“We don’t take any team lightly. We want to win the Test series. We expect nothing but the best from the West Indies and for us to match them,” Sangakkara said.
The limited-overs series will be played across Sri Lanka’s three World Cup venues as part of the preparation work ahead of next February’s tournament, which will be played across Sri Lanka, India and Bangladesh.
Sammy said his team was looking forward to testing the wickets at the three grounds, which include two brand new 25,000-seater stadiums, in Pallekele near the hill resort of Kandy, and Hambantota in the deep south.
“The series is a good practice run for us, in our preparation work ahead of the World Cup,” Sammy said.
Sri Lanka, a strong promoter of the television umpire review system, is hoping it will be available for the Test series, which begins on November 15 in the southern town of Galle.
“Ten Sports, who have the television and broadcasting rights, are doing their best to make the equipment available for the series. We will know this week if we can secure the equipment,” Sri Lanka Cricket Secretary, Nishantha Ranatunga said.