Following Chris Gayle’s belligerent century which set up a thumping six-wicket win over England in their opening encounter of the World T20, West Indies bowling coach Curtly Ambrose believes that his side are here for one reason and one reason only: to win the tournament.
“It’s always nice to get off to a winning start, it builds confidence and we are here to win this tournament. We will do the best that we can. Of course other people don’t think that we can and that suits us well. We are the underdogs and we have nothing to lose and when we come out winners, they will all be happy to change the tune,” said Ambrose.
With Gayle firing on all cylinders, Ambrose admitted that the team depended on the swashbuckling batsman heavily but added that there was more than one arrow in their quiver.
“We rely heavily on Gayle to get us off to a good start. Whenever he is on top of his game, there are not many in world cricket who can subdue him. But when you look at our batting line-up, Gayle is at the top of the order.
“It makes a big difference if he gets going, especially in that Powerplay. But we have depth in our batting.
“We have Russell, Darren Sammy, Carlos Brathwaite. Of course we want Chris Gayle to come good every game but we don’t wholly and solely rely on him alone,” said the former great.
While batting remains their plus point, the 52-year-old was also quite pleased with the bowling department.
“Our bowling has been coming along quite nicely. In T20 there is no margin for error for bowlers. But I think they are doing well and we’ll keep working hard in the nets to make sure we can put up the show.
“In T20 cricket, batsmen like to move around the crease and do all sort of different things. It’s primarily suited for batsmen and that’s a fact.”
