Darren Bravo points to pacers

Ryon Jones, Sunday Gleaner Writer

West Indies middle order batsman Darren Bravo was obviously pleased with the bounce offered by the Sabina Park pitch in the fifth and final Digicel Pearls one-day international (ODI) on Thursday and is hopeful that the West Indian pacers will be able to use this to their advantage and get the team off to a winning start in the Test series, which gets under way tomorrow.

"We know that they (the Indians) are susceptible to the short ball ... and we have the likes of Kemar Roach, I believe Fidel Edwards as well, and Ravi Rampaul," Bravo said at a press conference after the match. "Those guys are bowling pretty fast, so they can be a bit intimidating for them as well, so hopefully we can go out there and execute and play to the best of our ability," he added.

The Trinidadian anticipates a tough series as the Indians will be strengthened, but hopes the West Indies can carry over the momentum from their two consecutive victories in the ODI series.

"We will be taking the momentum from the ODI series and we know the likes of (Rahul) Dravid and (VVS) Laxman will be coming to join the Indian team," Bravo said. "They will be stronger but still I think we will have a capable team to go out there and perform well," he added.

disappointing

The 22-year-old shared the disappointment of the general West Indies public that the regional team has continued what seems to be a trend in winning matches after a series has been lost.

"It is a bit disappointing (winning after the series has been decided), it happened against Pakistan as well but we are learning," Bravo said.

"We would want to start on a winning note in every series, but it is a young team, we are learning as much as possible and hopefully we will get it right in the upcoming series," he added.

West Indies won the final match in the ODI series by seven wickets, on the back of a 99-ball 86 from Bravo. This was the second consecutive match that the home team won in the five-match series to emerge 3-2 losers.

The Indian coach, Duncan Fletcher, was not over perturbed by the fact that his team lost two games on the trot going into the Test series.

"We got these really great players arriving here who will uplift the team," Fletcher said. "Once we won the (ODI) series we did make a few chances to give a few guys a chance, so from that point of view I think the side is very happy with the result," he added.