KINGSTON, Jamaica, (CMC) - England’s cricketers touched down at Norman Manley International Airport on Wednesday at the start of their 2½-month tour of the Caribbean, confident of justifying the tag of favourites.
Michael Vaughan’s side is looking to become the first English team to win a Test series in the Caribbean in 36 years and the captain is under no illusions about the enormity of the task that lies ahead.
“We are not afraid of any players in any team, but we have a huge respect for all the players that will be on the West Indies team,” Vaughan said.
“Their captain, Brian Lara, is a phenomenally great player and we realise they are going to be a tough team to beat, but we just want to concentrate on our own team.
“We have an experienced batting line-up and a relatively inexperienced bowling attack, but we have a few firecrackers in there that hopefully will explode and put West Indies under some pressure.”
England play four Tests against West Indies at Kingston (March 11-15), Port of Spain (March 19-23), Bridgetown (April 1-5) and St John’s (April 10-14), as well as seven One-day Internationals during the tour that ends on May 5.
Although England ended their sequence of home series losses to West Indies during the series between the two sides four years ago, they have not won on Caribbean soil since Colin Cowdrey’s side eked out a 1-0 victory in a five-Test series.
England came with similar expectations on their last tour in 1998, but were convincingly beaten 3-1 in a six-Test series following some spectacular batting from Lara supported with skilful bowling by Courtney Walsh and Curtly Ambrose.
This series will also be remembered for the sub-standard pitch at Sabina Park that forced the cancellation of a Test for the first time in history.
“We recognise West Indies are strong on their home soil, only Australia and South Africa have beaten them in the last few years, so obviously we must have a huge amount of respect for them,” Vaughan said.
“The strength of both teams is in the batting, but we will have to put runs on the board to put them under pressure and also to give our inexperienced bowling attack something at which to bowl.”
England have hung their hopes on the horrendous overall record of West Indies in recent years. Since their last trip to the Caribbean, West Indies have plumbed some low depths and have won 14 of their 62 Tests and lost 34, including 3-0 in a four-Test series to South Africa a month ago.
“The prospects are exciting and if we play good cricket and work hard we can return home with a good victory,” he concluded.