WINDIES READY FOR BYO TEST

DESPITE the departure of batting legend, Brian Lara, the West Indies camp is in high spirits ahead of the first of two Test matches at starting at Queens Sports Club tomorrow.

Lara left the country on Wednesday after arriving with the Windies team in Bulawayo on January 23.

The West Indies held a lengthier training session yesterday to compensate for the time lost when rain disturbed their fine-tuning practice on Wednesday.*

West Indies bowling coach, Kenneth Benjamin, said the departure of Lara had not affected preparations for their first international outing of the year, as they were aware that he would only be around for a short period.

“We knew from the onset that it was going to be just a short visit, so I believe everyone was satisfied with what he did; we are prepared to go forward,” said Benjamin.

He said all players are in good form, and having been to Zimbabwe before, the conditions in Bulawayo are exactly what they anticipated when making the trip.

“The guys are in good form and the preparations are satisfactory. A few of the guys have been here before. I have been here before and the conditions are what we would have expected. We are expecting that it may be a bit on the slow side,” he said.

The visitors kicked off their tour with a three-day warm up match against Zimbabwe XI at Bulawayo Athletic Club which ended in a draw.

Benjamin said they know what to expect, as some Zimbabwean players who took part in the warm-up match made the final squad of 16 for the two-Test series.

“We noticed that some of the players who played in the warm-up match are in the Test team and so I think it is good for us, as we have seen some of them. So we have enough information to work with,” he said.

The second Test will be played from February 12-16 at the same venue. This will be the Test meeting between the two sides since 2017 when they also played two matches, with the Windies winning the series 1-0.