Wednesday

"Ready to get started" - Chris Gayle

It's four more days to go to the opening ceremony and we are improving as we go along with our preparations. We had a good practice game against Kenya on Monday at the Trelawny Multi Purpose Stadium and some of the guys got a feel for the new venue and a hit in the middle.

It was good to see Marlon (Samuels) scoring a hundred and that he is still in form. I hope he continues along this way. In the bowling department the bowlers are beginning to look good for us. We are working to be the best we can be, on getting it right and having everything come into place for us by the opening game against Pakistan on March13th at Sabina Park.

As a personal observation the Trelawny Multi Purpose Stadium is very impressive, the surroundings look good and it is a nice ground to play cricket at.

Tuesday was a day off for us, we did a team event, playing football on the lawns of the Ritz Carlton Hotel here in Montego Bay. We are working on getting the group more united, get the group together even more. All the guys enjoyed the football session yesterday. Wednesday it's back to more cricket skills, we will be back in the nets and focusing on the cricket aspect of our game.

We have one more practice game to go against India on Friday and it is obviously going to be a tougher challenge for us. It will however be a good build up to the first game against Pakistan. We have to use these games to stamp our authority and get the early advantage especially against India. Everyone has been looking forward to it as well.

"Disappointed but Expectant" - Denesh Ramdin


I have to first mention that I was a bit surprised by not being selected to play against Kenya on Monday at the Trelawny Multi Purpose Stadium. However it was a blessing in disguise for me. I know I probably need to work harder over the next couple of days on my batting and gather my game in order for the big opening match against Pakistan on March 13th. Overall I am looking forward to the World Cup as I have mentioned several times before. It's my first one and I'm definitely looking to do well.

I have to say well done to Simmo (Lendl Simmons) after wicketkeeping for a long time. He definitely has the ability to keep wicket. He did not do too badly although it is an unusual position for him. Normally he is outside, fielding and running around and during the match while carrying water he was joking to me that he wanted me to take over because he was getting tired and bored.

I am hoping to create a big impact with both bat and gloves as well as to help the West Indies team in every possible way to win the World Cup. I have to also congratulate Sammy (Marlon Samuels) and Chris (Gayle). They both played well and they put a challenging score on the board for us to go out and bowl to. I think we could have restricted Kenya to around 200, we need to be a little more consistent in the bowling department.

It was Kieron's (Pollard) first game I think he handled it well with both bat and ball. Hopefully he can continue and learn as we go along. We are looking forward to the game on Friday against India.

In the net sessions I am working a lot on the basic stuff – keeping and batting as well as urging the other players to keep working hard and staying focused. I've also been playing some golf at the White Witch golf course here in Montego Bay. Brian (Lara), Simmo, Kieron, Dwayne (Smith) and I had a putting competition with the loser buying lunch for the rest for a week. Sorry Kieron. I escaped, placing second and will be ringing Kieron whenever I get hungry around lunch time. Of course Brian, who we all know is a competent golfer topped the table.

One Tuesday we had a break from net sessions but we played football on the lawns at the Ritz Carlton Hotel in the afternoon with the squad split into four four man teams. Our team (me, Brian, Daren Powell and Devon Smith) won a couple of games and lost some. It was good fun for us overall though.

This evening the team has a bit of get together to relax, I could do with a home cooked meal now from Mum.

Monday

"Much Hard Work To Be Done" - Ramnaresh Sarwan


I have to start by congratulating the West Indies Players Association for the wonderful Annual Awards Ceremony in Barbados.

I am happy for the president, Mr. Dinanath Ramnarine and obviously for winning the One Day player of the year award as well. As you would be aware we have had five days in camp in Kingston Jamaica. Not all of the team are here yet so it has been slightly indifferent. However, you still have to make the best use of the time spent together with the players. Nevertheless, we are together now as a full unit.

In camp I have been batting in the nets against spin bowlers just to be on the safe side. I've started to bat against spin and gradually groove myself back into full batting. I'm really looking forward to our first warm up game against Kenya on the 5th of March due to the fact that I haven't played cricket for some time. It will be an opportunity to get some sort of match practice.

Additionally, in order to get myself ready for the big opening game on the 13th I will have to work very hard during the remaining net sessions because I haven't had much proper practice. We arrived today in Montego Bay and it's the fastest I've ever cleared immigration which is an excellent early sign for the organizers of the Cricket World Cup. I do hope it continues throughout the rest of the tournament.

I am particularly looking forward to the opening ceremony on the 11th of March at the new stadium in Trelawny, it's the first ever World Cup being held in the Caribbean and it would be a memorable moment that I will cherish for the rest of my life. I really enjoyed the opening ceremony in my first World Cup in South Africa and I am sure we will put on an even better show.

Thursday

Camp Going Smoothly - Chris Gayle

As everyone is aware we have a pre World Cup camp going on in Jamaica now and it has been pretty good so far. Everything has been going smoothly and everyone in the camp has been having a good time and enjoying it. The team management has been doing a very good job so far in terms of the preparation and all has been going well.

From a batting point of view we have been doing quite a bit of game simulation and that is good leading up to the warm up games against Kenya and India in Trelawny. It will give us a chance to get into a groove as we go on.

Today was a light day overall. We had a team briefing early this morning where we looked at players from the other teams competing in the tournament and we shared information with each other. We then followed that up with a pool session. Tomorrow we will return to doing some more batting work. It was more of a workshop day today and tomorrow it is going to be more intense and we will do more work on the field.
That is generally how it has been so far for the camp.

The game against Kenya is very important to us. Everyone is looking forward to it, the two warm up games will do us good leading up to the big opening game against Pakistan on March 13 at Sabina Park. These warm up games are good for us because they will give us a chance to show us what adjustments can be made leading up to the first game of the World Cup.

I am personally looking forward to playing at the brand new Trelawny Stadium for the first time. I have heard a lot of good comments being made about it and I am looking forward to getting a feel for what it is like. The guys are very enthusiastic as well about it and we will all be looking to getting acclimatized to the new stadium as soon as possible.