The pair are among the best in the world in the shortest format with leg-spinner Badree ranked number three and off-spinner Narine ranked seventh, and Radford said he expected them to be a handful for the Pakistani batsmen.
“They are guys who have been there and won World Cups. They’ve played in all the Twenty20 tournaments around the world,” Radford said here.
“They are quality players and they will know who they are bowling at here [because] they would have played against these Pakistan batters before so there’s lot of experience, lot of quality and you can’t buy that.
“So it’s great to have those in the side and the younger guys will obviously learn from them and pick up a lot from their skill.”
The 36-year-old Badree is a T20 specialist with 32 internationals to his name along with 42 wickets at an economy rate of just over five-and-a-half runs an over.
All told, he has taken 151 wickets in 154 T20s.
Fellow T&T Narine has taken 40 wickets from 39 T20Is at an economy rate of six, and has hauled in 264 scalps in 212 T20s overall.
Selectors have also surprisingly included left-arm spinner Veerasammy Permaul in the 16-man squad and Radford said he was pleased to see the 27-year-old in the Windies set-up.
“Permaul I remember him from the HPC when we ran the HPC here in Barbados four or five years ago,” the Englishman recalled. “He was always a quality spinner so I’m delighted he’s getting an opportunity.”
The opening T20I bowls off at Kensington Oval here with the remaining three set for Queen’s Park Oval in Trinidad on March 30, April 1 and 2.
Windies aiming to capitalize on home advantage
BRIDGETOWN, Barbados — West Indies batting coach Toby Radford said on Thursday the regional side would try to make home advantage count in the upcoming Twenty20 series against Pakistan, as they attempted to make amends for their dismal showing last September.
Just seven months ago, the reigning T20 World champions found themselves on the end of a humiliating series whitewash in the United Arab Emirates as Pakistan convincingly won the three-match series on ‘home turf’.
However, with much more familiar conditions expected, Radford said he was anticipating a change in fortunes.
“I think the big thing when we played out there is we found that the pitches were particularly slow and obviously suited their spin bowlers and they made very, very big boundaries and made us run a lot,” the Englishman pointed out.
“So hopefully the wickets will be a lot quicker here, more of what we are used to.
We are used to playing on these surfaces and when you are on your home patch, everyone is really up for playing and wants a win so hopefully we’re going to get a lot of good support as well but I’m very much ready for a good show from everyone.”
The four-match series opens tomorrow at Kensington Oval here before heading to T&T for the last three games at Queen’s Park Oval.
West Indies have been in training since they assembled on Wednesday and Radford said everyone looked in fine form. (CMC)
“We had a good session this morning and all the batters looked in really good touch which is encouraging,” he said.
“There’s one big game coming up in Barbados this weekend and then it’s off to Trinidad for three games there. It will be a really exciting series and hopefully they’ll put in a really good performance.”
While the wide will be without the likes of T20 stars Chris Gayle, Dwayne Bravo and Andre Russell, it includes other big names like batsmen Kieron Pollard and Marlon Samuels, along with leg-spinner Samuel Badree.
Selectors have also opted for first-timers Jonathan Carter, Jason Mohammed and Veerasammy Permaul coming on the heels of their good form against England in the recent one-day series, and the move is one Radford endorsed.
“Carter and Jason Mohammed played very well in the 50-over tournament recently against England and I think it is great their form has been recognised by the board and they’ve been given an opportunity in this format as well,” he pointed out.
“Kesrick Williams bowled very well in the UAE against Pakistan; he bowled very straight — if they missed he hit — he mixed his pace up well.”
Radford continued: “I think it’s an exciting team, a mix of real talent that’s been there and done it, and some youngsters who show real quality and I think putting those together, I would love to see [West Indies] put some good performances together.”
