Adams praises Windies attitude

Team manager Jimmy Adams has hailed the attitude of his U19 squad © Getty Images

West Indies team manager Jimmy Adams believes the attitude of his players is spot-on ahead of next month’s ICC U19 Cricket World Cup in Sri Lanka.

Adams, who played in the first ever tournament in 1988 and later captained the West Indies at Test and ODI level, is currently presiding over the side’s pre-tournament tour of Pakistan.

And even though they lost against the home side in Karachi on Friday to go 2-1 down in a four-match series, Adams likes what he has seen from his players so far.

“I only met up with them a couple of weeks ago but their attitude has really impressed me,” he said. “They seem fairly well focussed.

“I have seen too many cases of talent going begging because of the wrong attitude but that does not seem to be the case with these players

“The attitude is right so they are adapting very quickly and we are delighted with the way the cricket has been going.”

Despite that narrow loss on Friday, the West Indies have been very competitive on the tour so far, winning their opening match against a representative side before a narrow four-wicket loss in the first match against their Pakistan counterparts last Sunday.

The side bounced back with a seven-run win in the second match on Tuesday but lost on Friday, with the remaining match set to take place on Saturday before the team moves on to Colombo.

“This time in Pakistan has been vital for us,” said Adams. “The boys had training camps (in Trinidad) before and after Christmas and lots of them have been playing trial games with the big men ahead of our domestic season.

“It means they are not short of cricket but now we are finally seeing them in match action and we can assess how they are coping with conditions which will be similar to those we expect to find in Sri Lanka.”

The West Indies are all too aware of the need to hit the round running when they get to Colombo because they find themselves in a real cut-throat group – Group B – that includes fellow big guns Australia and South Africa as well as the United States of America.

And with only two sides able to progress to the Super League stage, even one defeat could be enough to shatter any dreams a team may have of lifting the ICC U19 CWC trophy.

“Everyone is aware of it,” said Adams as he reflected on how tight Group B could become.

“But one of the jobs of the team management is to make sure the players are focussed on the processes they have to go through, about playing good cricket, rather than worrying about the end result.

“If we play our best cricket then the rest should look after itself and if we still get beaten despite having done that then so be it.”

The West Indies squad: Leon Johnson (captain), Jason Mohammed (vice-captain), Rishi Bachan, Shamarh Brooks, Andre Fletcher, Andre McCarthy, Sunil Narine, Nelon Pascal, William Perkins, Kieron Pollard, Richard Ramdeen, Kemar Roach, Javon Searles, Gajanand Singh