Rampaul Confident Quicks Can Deliver

Rampaul Confident Quicks Can Deliver

Ravi Rampaul believes that he and his fellow quick bowlers will play a big role for the West Indies in Bangladesh

©WICB Media

Despite expecting to be faced with pitches that are likely to be unresponsive for quick bowlers West Indian pacer Ravi Rampaul is still hopeful of playing a role for his side in Bangladesh.

He knows that he and fellow fast bowlers Tino Best and Fidel Edwards will have to adjust their gameplan to suit subcontinental conditions, where bet365 make them 1/20 favourites to win the two-match series.

"From past experiences, the pitches have always been slow for the fast bowlers, but the spinners get a little turn," he told reporters in Mirpur ahead of the first Test, which gets underway tomorrow (13th November).

"It’s basically a pitch on which you have to exercise patience. Use your variations and attack the wicket more.”

"The pitches have been slower in some parts of the World, so we try to keep things as simple as possible and try to execute the basics properly.

"We believe in our ability and try to build as much pressure on the batsmen as possible when we are bowling."

Although reports have suggested that the pitch may offer something for fast bowlers, Rampaul is not getting ahead of himself.

"It’s too early to tell how the pitch will play," he said. "We won’t know until the first ball how much bounce we will be able to generate.

"We have some fast bowlers that can clock around 90 miles an hour, so if the pitch gives us purchase and we put the ball in the right areas we can attack them.

"As a bowling unit, we tend to examine the batsmen and examine their weaknesses. If the short ball is one of their weaknesses, we will exploit it as far as possible to get them out."

The West Indies suffered a blow when Kemar Roach was ruled out of the tour due to injury and although he will be missed, Rampaul is confident that the tourists can still prove a threat with the new ball.

"This year, Kemar has taken the most wickets for us," he said. "It is a huge gap to fill, but Fidel Edwards is in the squad and he is a very experienced campaigner in Tests. We have a fairly all-round bowling unit and we feel it can do the job for us.

"We are not underestimating any of their batsmen. We plan to take all 20 wickets in each Test and try to come out on top as a bowling unit.

"Last year, we came here and came out on top. This year, we are planning to do the same thing. We have to keep believing in ourselves and doing the basics right and we will come out on top again."

© Cricket World 2012