West Indies’ coach, John Dyson, believes his side can win Twenty20
• Big victories and brighter conditions have ‘boosted spirits’
• Win over England will guarantee semi-final place
* Lawrence Booth
* The Guardian, Sunday 14 June 2009
Cohesion has felt like a distant dream for West Indies for much of their stay in England but their coach, John Dyson, believes conditions in the last 10 days have helped turn his side into potential World Twenty20 winners as they prepare for tomorrow’s crucial Super Eight game against England at The Oval.
‘These are flatter wickets than the ones we’ve been used to here. Hopefully the weather stays warm and the outfields are like grease-lightning. It just suits our players: they’re more confident in these conditions.’
West Indies lost 2-0 in both the Test and one-day series to England before going down to a crushing nine-wicket defeat against them in a Twenty20 warm-up game at Lord’s. But they have since beaten Australia and the defending champions India and – despite losing to South Africa on Saturday – are guaranteed a place in the semi-finals if they can overcome England .
‘Our victory against Australia really boosted the spirits,’ added Dyson. ‘It also said to everyone in the squad, hey, we can beat anyone else in this tournament. Then the win against India on Friday just reinforced the fact that, on our day, we’re capable of beating anyone.
The game against England is a pure one-off because these conditions are totally different to the ones we were playing under in the Test and one-day series. It’s a very even match. In the Twenty20 warm-up at Lord’s we didn’t have a good day. Back in the Caribbean we had a very good day against them in the Twenty20. Whoever steps forward on the day and plays well can win the match for his team.’
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