CHRISTCHURCH - West Indies skipper Jason Holder is expecting plenty of entertainment against Pakistan when the two most mercurial sides in international cricket face off in the World Cup in Christchurch on Saturday. Pakistan and West Indies are both former world champions, both lost their best spin bowler before the tournament and both suffered losses in their campaign openers.
Both sides also have shown the ability over the years to be brilliant one game and abject the next, although it has been a while now since West Indies displayed much brilliance. The Caribbean islanders suffered a humiliation in their World Cup opener, losing to Ireland by four wickets at Saxton Oval in Nelson on Monday.
That came on the back of a shellacking from England and a narrow victory over Scotland in the warm-ups. "We can't let our defeats get us down," Holder told reporters at Hagley Oval on Friday. "Obviously we lost a game against Ireland and it was a pretty tough loss, but if we get ourselves down, it's hard to pick ourselves back up, so we just tried to keep the mood going. We've obviously addressed a few issues, which we have. We didn't bowl particularly well in the last game, so that's a big concern for us (but we go) into tomorrow's game with full confidence."
Holder is hoping to have tall spinner Sulieman Benn, who missed the Ireland game, and all-rounder Darren Sammy available despite both experiencing back stiffness. Pakistan opened their campaign with a more acceptable, if no less hurtful, 76-run defeat to neighbours and reigning champions India in Adelaide last Sunday. "We should have a full complement to choose from," captain Jason Holder said.
A fit Sammy is essential for the West Indies, who are already down on bowling strength with the absence of Sunil Narine. Against Ireland, former captain Sammy contributed 89 with the bat and figured in a key 154-run partnership with centurion Lendl Simmons when the West Indies posted 304 batting first. But his troublesome back saw him pulled from the attack after conceding an expensive 25 runs in three overs as Ireland overhauled the target with 25 balls to spare.
"We've got him to the stage where we think he's going to be a lot better off than what he was in the first game against Ireland," Holder said. Sammy was not the only West Indies bowler to be caned by Ireland with Jerome Taylor going for 71 in nine overs, although compensating with three wickets, while Kemar Roach took none for 52 and Holder none for 44.