I KNEW WE COULD DO IT! - RICARDO POWELL
20 Sep 2004
FEATURE ARTICLE
Ricardo Powell is a member of the West Indies squad currently taking part in the ICC Champions Trophy. These articles are sponsored by the Jamaica International Insurance Company.
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I don't want to say I told you so, but I did mention in my last article that the West Indies were considered the under dogs for the qualifying game at the Oval.
Now, I am sure that some of you will believe me now when I say that our team has been working hard over the past few months. I have also pointed out time and time again, that if our team is to develop and move forward, we will have down times.
Well yesterday was like no other. We won! Can you imagine the West Indies winning two games in a row and qualifying for a place in the ICC Champion Trophy semi-finals? A mini World Cup at that! This comes as no surprise to me as I knew we could do it. We did it before in South Africa. The South African team knew we could do it again!
Congratulations must go to our captain and vice captain, along with Shivnarine Chanderpaul, 'The Tiger'. I would also like to congratulate our bowlers for some conservative bowling figures. They were very tight with the extras. It was a superb performance by the team overall!
Shivnarine Chanderpaul of the West Indies is congratulated by team mate Dwyane Bravo after the team beat South Africa to move into the semi-finals.
Well I have already come back to reality and I know that we have a lot more work to do as a team. We are here to win four games, two down, two to go! As I have said before we are here to give our all. That is all we can do. We are committed to lifting the spirits of the West Indian people at this time.
West Indies cricket has been the unifying force among the Caribbean people for many years, long before I was born. Nothing else can unify the Caribbean people like this sport can.
Over the next few days we are here to play lovely cricket. We are going to fight hard to attain our dream of capturing the ICC Champions Trophy.
It can happen. Most of our victories in recent times have been in the One Day version of the game. So it stands to reason that we are getting better at this.
It is also reasonable to say that our team plays more One Day cricket per annum than Test cricket. The next time some of us in the team will play another Test match, will be in 2005. So it is only natural that we will see the progress of our guys in the shorter version of the game. You can only get better at what you practice. Practice makes improvement.
I think the goal before us over the next week is very clear. If we want this bad enough we can get it.
Meanwhile I am also certain that we have a world class One Day team capable of defeating the best of teams. As I have said before when we play as a team we are a force to be reckoned with. As Jamaicans would say, "What ah whey if West Indies win de trophy?"
