Feb. 12, 2020, 7:22 p.m.

15 hours flying from West Indies to Sri Lanka – DONE

Beating the ills of jetlag with a gym session – DONE

Hitting the ground running with first training session – DONE

That’s how the week started for our inspiration skipper Kieron Pollard and his team as they touched down in Sri Lanka, ready to battle the home team in the three One-Day Internationals. After the flight and the gym in Colombo, the players made the bus trip from the team hotel to the Sinhalese Sports Club for nets on Wednesday morning. According to the captain it has been a good start to their pre-series camp with all eyes fixed on the first match on Saturday, February 22.

“The guys are looking forward to this tour, first away tour for 2020, and we have to build on what we did against Ireland (at home). We have something we have to improve. Coming here early shows the importance of this tour for us to make sure we are prepared very well in all aspects,” Pollard told CWI Media.

West Indies have been showing steady improvement in ODIs in recent encounters. Last month they beat Ireland 3-0 in the Colonial Medical Insurance series in Barbados and Grenada. Last December they gave a huge effort but went down 1-2 to India in a hard-fought series, while last November they blitzed Afghanistan 3-0 in Lucknow, India.

In the coming weeks, West Indies will play their ODIs matches will be played at Sinhalese Sports Club; the Mahinda Rajapaksa International Stadium in Hambantota; and the Pallakele International Cricket Stadium in Kandy. The ODIs will be followed by two T20 International in Kandy. The squad for the T20Is will be named at a later date.

MATCH SCHEDULE

-CWI