‘No pressure’

THE WEST Indies will begin their quest to get into the main group of the International Cricket Council (ICC) T20 World Cup when they take on Scotland in first-round Group B day/night action today in Hobart starting at 11 pm Jamaica time.

Nicholas Pooran will be the man at the helm for the men in maroon, as he leads a new-look regional side that some say, could play spoiler in the eighth edition of the world tournament.

Two-time winning T20 World Cup captain Darren Sammy is one of the pundits who believes the West Indies can upset the applecart at the marquee cricket event of the year.

“I would never write off the West Indies and I have a funny feeling that something special is going to happen in Australia,” said Sammy.

First up though, the West Indies have to get by Scotland, Zimbabwe and Ireland to ensure a place in the Super 12’s of the competition, and captain Pooran knows all too well that his side will have to bring their ‘A’ game from the opening encounter.

In addition, Pooran has to be operating with the spectre of the only side to have won the trophy twice. That though, he said, does not cause any pressure.

“To be honest, I don’t feel like there’s a lot of pressure. We believe that we are a new group of guys, yes, we are new when it comes to T20 cricket. We start at the bottom and I think we have the toughest way to the World Cup, and the guys understand that,” said Pooran.

The West Indies enter the tournament on the back of three T20 series losses against India, New Zealand and Australia and the regional side find themselves in the forgettable position of having to qualify to play with the big boys.

Despite this scenario, Pooran believes playing in the qualifiers could be the jolt the team needs as motivation to go for their third T20 title.

“I keep telling them it may be a blessing in disguise for us to start in the qualifiers first. Everyone knows when you want something you have to work really hard for it, but yes, we want to qualify, and obviously, there’s some pressure, as well, but the guys are not thinking about that. We just want to focus on ourselves and try to play the best cricket we can.”