Ramdin reflects on 2nd ODI - JamaicaObserver.com

Saturday, November 21, 2009 12:55 PM

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Ramdin reflects on 2nd ODI

DIGICEL Players Diary

BY DENESH RAMDIN

Saturday, July 04, 2009

First off, I have to say it is really good to be back in the Caribbean playing in familiar conditions after the long tour to England where, at least at the start, it was a bit too cold for us West Indians.

RAMDIN... I was happy with my five catches in the second game

It was good to come back and level the Digicel Series to 1-1, after we narrowly lost the first game. I'm very happy to see my friend Ravi (Rampaul) coming back into the team and pick up important wickets. When he didn't make the team for the ICC Twenty20, I spoke to him a lot on the phone and I know he was very disappointed. He was working hard though because he wanted to come back and do well. And now that he has the chance, he's grabbing it with both hands and I'm very happy for him.

Ravi went out there and proved to everyone that he should be on this team rather than one game in and one game out. I grew up playing with Ravi and I don't think of him as just a bowler - he can bat as well. I think he is very capable lower down the order. He has only played One-Day matches so far for the West Indies, but I think that in the near future he will get his chance at Test cricket.

Although we lost the first game, we bounced back well by picking up early wickets in the second game and putting India under pressure. Even though we lost the first game, we were never flustered by their big score of 339. We thought we could get it and I was trying all the way down to the end, but we lost too many wickets at crucial stages so we fell short. I think if we had calculated better in the PowerPlay overs, we would have gotten home easily. All in all though, we came back strong.

I was happy with my five catches in the second game. Everyone was talking about the record on the field, but I wasn't thinking about it, I was concentrating on each ball and one of my biggest jobs was to support the guys on the field. I think we let them off the hook though, because when we had them at 82 for 8, we had to get them out for just over 100, but they got about 40 to 50 runs more than they should have.

It was good to see such a good bowling effort. All the bowlers really chipped in and there was good back up in the fielding. Chris and Runako gave us the start we were looking for with a big partnership. They played positively and after that the game was sealed.

When all is said and done though, we just have to be consistent in all three areas of the game, and once we do that, we should finish ahead.

One thing which we did well in the second game at Sabina was take early wickets and we have to do that again.

People have asked me how I am coping with the vice-captaincy and I think I am doing quite well so far. When Chris is not there, I step in and I give 100 per cent on and off the field. I get the full support of all the guys, but we all still have to go out there and do the business for the team. We're a young team, we're playing good cricket, so it's just for us to be more consistent to make the fans happier more often than not.

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