WEST Indies and Pakistan will face each other in a three-match One Day International (ODI) series in Guyana from Friday at the National Stadium and at stake is the last automatic qualification spot for the 2019 World Cup in England.
The ODIs will be crucial, since the top eight teams in the ICC ODI rankings at the end of September 2017 automatically advance to the 2019 Cricket World Cup in England.
Pakistan are currently ranked eighth on the ICC ODI rankings table, the last automatic-qualification spot, with 89 points while West Indies are five points behind them in ninth position with 84 points. If West Indies fail to get into the top eight spots by September, they must participate in the 2018 ICC World Cup Qualifier.
“It’s a big series and the target is for us to qualify for the world cup,” said 28-year-old Barbados and West Indies spinner Ashley Nurse.
Nurse has played seven ODIs for the West Indies since his debut last year (2016) in a Tri-Series with the Caribbean side, Zimbabwe and Sri Lanka.
Bowling his right-arm offbreak, Nurse took 14 wickets in his seven outings for the West Indies; a statistic that he told reporters he’s looking to improve on, stating, “obviously as a professional, the aim is to get better and despite I had a good series against England, the plan is now on winning these ODI series against Pakistan.”
A newly laid pitch at the Guyana National Stadium, according to Nurse, should be no worries in getting the ball to turn, adding, “The pitch looks good, but I mean I’m not a curator but they said it’s re-laid so we hope we can get some good scores in as well.”
“We always stress on family, we always stress on being together, so the team’s morale at this point is really good and hopefully we could stay together and push forward,” said Nurse.
The three ODIs are scheduled for April 7, 9, and 11, with matches set to bowl off from 09:30hrs.
West Indies ODI squad: Alzarri Joseph, Kieran Powell, Ashley Nurse, Shannon Gabriel, Miguel Cummins, Devendra Bishoo, Chadwick Walton, Rovman Powell, Jason Mohammed, Evin Lewis, Jonathan Carter, Shai Hope, Jason Holder (capt.).
Pakistan ODI squad: Ahmed Shehzad, Kamran Akmal, Mohammad Hafeez, Babar Azam, Shoaib Malik, Fakhar Zaman, Asif Zakir, Imad Wasim, Shadab Khan, Hasan Ali, Wahab Riaz, Mohammad Amir, Junaid Khan, Mohammad Asghar, Sarfraz Ahmed (capt.), Fahim Ashraf.