Ramdin urges teammates to focus on victory

Denesh Ramdin has echoed the sentiment of new coach Ottis Gibson that West Indies need to forget about their wretched recent tour of Australia and focus on demoralising Zimbabwe.

West Indies were crushed 4-0 in the One-day Internationals, and were swept away 2-0 in the Twenty20 Internationals during their trip Down Under.

Ramdin will captain West Indies in the absence of Chris Gayle in the Twenty20 game against Zimbabwe on Sunday at Queen's Park Oval here, and he wants to condemn that trip to Australia as a bad and distant memory.

"We don't want to take Zimbabwe easy, they are competitive," said Ramdin at a news conference to launch the series on Saturday.

"It is for us to go out there and play our best cricket. The (Australia) series is gone. We are looking to the future. We have a new coach who is looking forward to great things from us."

Gibson on Friday had indicated the need for West Indies to move on from the winless debacle in Australia to prepare for success against the Zimbabweans.

He also warned his side against being complacent against one of the teams considered minnows in the international game.

Ramdin acknowledged that West Indies were slightly depleted without Gayle, Ramnaresh Sarwan, Dwayne Bravo, Fidel Edwards, and Jerome Taylor, but he felt their replacements were more than capable of taking the home team over the line.

"I think the young guys have to step up to the plate," said the West Indies wicketkeeper/batsman.

"Some of our established players are out of the team, so the young players have to step up, take the opportunities, and do great things for themselves and the team."

"We've done well (in the only T20I) on this ground, and we're hoping to continue this. The guys are looking forward to it, and we have a lot of guys who have played T20Is, and can go out there and execute."

Ramdin himself would love to make a significant contribution to the side.

His continued failures with the bat, if not behind the stumps has been a source of major disappointment in the Caribbean, and a promotion in the order could be the right tonic.

"I would like to bat higher in the order for West Indies. If given the opportunity, I will go out and do it.

"I've done it in the past for (my native) Trinidad & Tobago, and I've done it for a couple of games for West Indies.

"I got some results I wanted, some I didn't. If I have the opportunity again, I will go out there, and try and do the best for the team."