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WELL-ATTUNED: The West Indies’ Jason Holder is a big believer in his side’s ability to do well and ‘play an attractive brand of cricket’

WEST INDIES captain Jason Holder has asserted that his side are sufficiently prepared for this summer’s ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup 2019, which is now under way.

The Windies get their campaign up and running against Pakistan at Trent Bridge, Nottingham tomorrow (May 31) and Holder is of the opinion that he has the tools to lead the Caribbean out t to their third global one-day success.

“We are well attuned to the conditions and we are just looking to start the tournament,” he said. Holder was not concerned about the dearth of match practice for his team prior to the tournament, however, citing some of his players’ recent Indian Premier League (IPL) campaigns and West Indies’ tri-series in Ireland as reason to believe that they are suitably equipped.

“We are absolutely not [undercooked],” he said. “We’ve had a lot of cricket leading up to this. A lot of the guys have been playing IPL cricket and everybody has been playing cricket leading up to the tournament.”

Holder will rely on a mix of experience and youth during the tournament, calling upon hard-hitting opener Chris Gayle for much needed know-how.

Barbados-born Holder admitted: “Chris is definitely up for it. He is obviously one of those guys who carries a bit of age and is a senior guy within the squad.”

While lauding the highly anticipated comeback of explosive all-rounder Andre Russell, Holder was also enthusiastic in his assessment of the young players in his squad, claiming that he could give a “whole host of names” from his team that could be headline-makers in his summer’s cricket showpiece.

“Russ [Russell] is one of those guys who is very impactful, he is a power player and a match- winner,” he said.

“We expect guys like Russ to hold a big fort in our World Cup campaign. It’s a matter of everyone coming together, we’ve got other guys like Nicolas Pooran, Evin Lewis... I could go through a whole host of names in this squad who are potential match-winners on any given day.

“It’s about bringing it together collectively and playing an attractive brand of cricket.”

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