The intensive six-week training camp which prepared the Stanford Superstars for their historic victory against England in the US$20 million winner-take-all match on Saturday will serve West Indies cricket in good stead in the future.
Superstars captain Chris Gayle believes that the players from his squad who were picked for the West Indies for three One-Day Internationals against Pakistan and the tour of New Zealand will be match ready when the time comes.
‘The training will help, preparation wise,’ Gayle said. ‘I don’t think that we need to go into intense training now. The travelling might be a bit long but we’ll get that out of our system but we will start where we left off.’
The hard-hitting opening batsman praised the training camp, conducted by head coach Eldine Baptiste who was assisted by Roger Harper and Cardigan Connor.
It was the longest ever undergone by the top regional cricketers. And it has been a criticism of the West Indies Cricket Board that they have not been able to organise anything remotely close to it which has been blamed for the continued poor record of the Test team over the years.
Despite coming up against opposition who had the advantage in experience, the Stanford Superstars exhibited their superiority in all aspects of the game to claim an emphatic victory and restore some Caribbean pride as well as fatten their bank books beyond their wildest dreams.
Gayle said the West Indies players will have to concentrate on their physical conditioning leading up to the series against Pakistan and New Zealand but he is quite satisfied with his readiness.
After missing out on the first warm-up match for the Stanford Superstars against Trinidad and Tobago, Gayle lasted only two balls in the second fixture against Middlesex last Thursday.
But he came good on Saturday night, blasting the England bowlers to all parts of the ground, racking up an undefeated 65 with five fours and five sizes to lead his team to the big prize. Set 100 to win, the Stanford Superstars reached their target in 12.4 overs.
Meanwhile, Canada will be participating in the West Indies’ domestic one-day tournament which runs from November 13-23 in Guyana.
Sunil Dhaniram, who used to play first-class cricket for Guyana, will lead Canada again, but the tournament will be his last as captain, due to commitments outside of cricket limiting the time he can devote to the team.
Umar Bhatti will take the reigns for the Americas Division 1 Championship taking place in Fort Lauderdale from November 25-30. Dhaniram will, however, remain in the team as a player.
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