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Carlos Brathwaite, the West Indies all-rounder, believes that if his team continue to perform as they did in the one-day international series at home against England, they can challenge for the ICC Men's Cricket World Cup 2019 title.
West Indies had to go through the qualifying tournament, in which they lost in the final to Afghanistan, to seal their place in CWC 2019 in England and Wales. They lost one-day international series to Bangladesh (home and away) and India, but enthralled against England in a drawn series where several records were broken.
Brathwaite, whose last-over heroics won his side the ICC Men's World T20 2016 title, said their recent performance was a good sign as they chase their third World Cup trophy after wins way back in 1975 and 1979.
“I don’t want ourselves to be called favourites or underdogs. But we have recently played some great brand of cricket and if we can replicate that [in England] we will go somewhere close to challenging for the title,” Brathwaite told Press Trust of India on Friday, 22 March.
“We have been traditionally a good tournament team, so hopefully, we can win the third World Cup. From players' point of view, we have the belief that we can win and we will play our best cricket."
One of the Windies' concerns is consistency. After the ODIs, for instance, they collapsed in the T20Is against England. Given the format of the World Cup, where each team plays the other, their challenge will be to maintain a high level throughout.
“We have to play our best game over nine or something preliminary games and then in the semi-finals and finals," agreed Brathwaite. “We know what we can do but we need to execute our plans. We have full faith that we can lift the trophy.”
For his own part, he'll be happy to play a small part – even if it isn't something as iconic as hitting four sixes in a final over. “I would not be hitting four sixes again maybe, but I am happy to be contributing," he said. "It’s not about scoring a fifty or taking a hat-trick. I’ve matured over the years."
https://www.icc-cricket.com/news/1112368
West Indies had to go through the qualifying tournament, in which they lost in the final to Afghanistan, to seal their place in CWC 2019 in England and Wales. They lost one-day international series to Bangladesh (home and away) and India, but enthralled against England in a drawn series where several records were broken.
Brathwaite, whose last-over heroics won his side the ICC Men's World T20 2016 title, said their recent performance was a good sign as they chase their third World Cup trophy after wins way back in 1975 and 1979.
“I don’t want ourselves to be called favourites or underdogs. But we have recently played some great brand of cricket and if we can replicate that [in England] we will go somewhere close to challenging for the title,” Brathwaite told Press Trust of India on Friday, 22 March.
“We have been traditionally a good tournament team, so hopefully, we can win the third World Cup. From players' point of view, we have the belief that we can win and we will play our best cricket."
One of the Windies' concerns is consistency. After the ODIs, for instance, they collapsed in the T20Is against England. Given the format of the World Cup, where each team plays the other, their challenge will be to maintain a high level throughout.
“We have to play our best game over nine or something preliminary games and then in the semi-finals and finals," agreed Brathwaite. “We know what we can do but we need to execute our plans. We have full faith that we can lift the trophy.”
For his own part, he'll be happy to play a small part – even if it isn't something as iconic as hitting four sixes in a final over. “I would not be hitting four sixes again maybe, but I am happy to be contributing," he said. "It’s not about scoring a fifty or taking a hat-trick. I’ve matured over the years."
https://www.icc-cricket.com/news/1112368
