The Hindu : Sport / Cricket : Sarwan looking to finish WC well

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Tuesday, Apr 17, 2007
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Sarwan looking to finish WC well

Bridgetown: Dejected by its poor World Cup performance in front of the Caribbean cricket fans, the West Indies is now concentrating on an upcoming England tour.

"Our World Cup performance has been disappointing, but we're looking to win the last two matches and build momentum for our forthcoming tour to England," vice-captain Ramnaresh Sarwan told reporters on Sunday.

The two-time champion has logged just two points from its preliminary round win over Ireland and lost all four Super Eight matches.

Unlikely sequence

Although it is not mathematically out of contention for the World Cup semifinals, the West Indies has given up hope because it needs an extremely unlikely sequence of results in its favour.

Its remaining two Super Eight outings are against Bangladesh on Thursday and England two days later. Sarwan said the West Indies must win to gain confidence ahead of the tour to England that begins from May 12.

"We start the England tour a couple of weeks after this tournament, it's important to get the confidence and momentum going before that," Sarwan said.

"There's only a slight chance of us making the semifinals. What we're focusing is on winning the two remaining games," said Sarwan. "We need to win by big margins to sustain our chances."

Big wins not enough

Even big wins may not be enough as West Indies can only finish ahead of both South Africa and England if other results too fall in place. South Africa has six points with one match remaining, while England is on four points and has two games to play.

Defending champion Australia, New Zealand and Sri Lanka have already secured passage into the semifinals and just one spot is still to be filled.

Couldn't handle expectations

Sarwan apologised to the West Indies fans for the team's failure to live up to expectations.

"Of course, the fans are disappointed as we haven't played well," said Sarwan.

"We're very sorry to have let them down, but want them to continue supporting us and give us the confidence to move forward. "There was tremendous pressure of the team playing in the World Cup at home, some of the guys probably did not handle it too well."

Sarwan is tipped to take over the mantle of captaincy from Brian Lara, who said before the World Cup that he would stop playing limited-overs internationals.

Captaincy

"I've answered questions about the captaincy two years ago, I'll do my best if given the opportunity to lead the West Indies," Sarwan said.

"If the captaincy is given to someone else, whosoever is appointed skipper will get my full support. You have to wait and see, as there are still two matches left in this World Cup."

Sarwan said there was a possibility of the West Indies having separate captains for one-day internationals and Test matches. Lara is expected to continue playing in Tests.

"I don't know what's going to happen," he said. "Only the authorities can answer that question." — AP

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