Port of Spain: High on confidence after recent successes against Zimbabwe and India, West Indies will be going all out to retain the ICC Champions Trophy in India in October-November.
Manager of the West Indies 'A' team Tony Howard said the players were preparing hard and eagerly looking forward to the event for the defence of the title.
"The series against India and Zimbabwe were all a part of the lead-up to our defence of the Champions Trophy and the 'A' tour to England this summer will form the part of preparations as well," Howard was quoted as saying by the Jamaica Observer.
"I have been speaking to the senior guys on a regular basis and in that time they have been doing their training and getting themselves ready," he said as members of the 'A' team prepared for this summer's tour of England.
"These guys ('A' team) will be part of the lead-up. There is so much cricket and the 'A' team guys will be able to fill in any gap we might have. There is a lot at stake and we want to be able to win that event again."
The West Indies will play in the preliminaries from October 7 to 11, before they qualify for the full event scheduled to run from October 15 to November 5.
In the preliminaries, the West Indies will face Zimbabwe in Ahmedabad on October 8 and clash with Bangladesh in Jaipur on October 11.
The West Indies won the Champions Trophy for the first time in September 2004 when they beat England by two wickets in the final at the Oval.
It was the West Indies' first major international trophy since winning the 1979 World Cup, also in England against England.
Comments
0 comment