10 November 2008

The West Indies team has arrived in Abu Dhabi ahead of their three-match One Day Internationals series against Pakistan confident of returning home with the Fortune Trophy.

The Caribbean side has never played at the 17,000 capacity Sheikh Zayed stadium and will be looking to make their first experience of the venue a winning one.

"We believe we can do well against Pakistan in Abu Dhabi," captain Chris Gayle said. "This is our first time (here) and the team is eager to do well on foreign soil. We believe this could be the start of a very good away tour.

"Pakistan is a good cricket team and it will be a challenge for us, but we will be fighting hard against them all the way," he said.

Gayle captained the Stanford Superstars to victory in the recent Twenty20 for $20 million against England and West Indies will be hoping he, along with Ramnaresh Sarwan and Shivnarine Chanderpaul can continue the sort of form that saw the Superstars go through the week in Antigua unbeaten.

"The players have settled very well and we are eagerly looking forward to the upcoming matches," team manager Omar Khan commented. "This is a major opportunity and the players are aware of what is required," he added.

The first match takes place on Wednesday, November 12th with further matches on November 14th and 16th.

© Cricket World 2008

Pakistan v West Indies