The West Indies team will hold a training session at the Cardiff Wales Stadium this afternoon and captain Dwayne Bravo will hold his pre-tournament media conference at St David's Hotel, Cardiff tomorrow (Wednesday 29 May) as preparations for the ICC Champions Trophy heat up this week with the first warm-up game in the Welsh capital on Saturday against Australia (1pm scheduled start).
Chris Gayle and his West Indies teammates led by Captain Dwayne Bravo, were the first of the eight nations contesting the ICC Champions Trophy to arrive in Cardiff. The Australians are the second to arrive into Wales and will train at the home of Glamorgan Cricket on Wednesday morning before captain Michael Clarke's media conference in Cardiff Bay the same afternoon.
Ahead of the warm up clash in Cardiff West Indies' Tino Best is confident his side can repeat their showing in Sri Lanka last October when they won the ICC World T20 Championship.
"I have been playing some decent one-day cricket. I had a decent tour of Australia and I did pretty well against the Zimbabweans when we returned from Australia. I'm very happy and excited to be part of the Champions Trophy," Best said.
"I believe our chances are as good as any other team in the competition. We have some amazing talent in our dressing room. It is really exciting to play alongside such a talented group of players and I'm relishing the opportunity to do well for the people of the region."
Best added: "I want to hit the tournament at 100 percent and bowling rapid (pace)."
Best said he is eagerly looking forward to playing in the United Kingdom where he did well last year. During the Test series against England he made a world-record 95 batting at Number 11,
"Last summer was amazing. To come back into the Test team and do so well felt really good and gave me the confidence to kick on and do even better. Once we play as unit as we did in Sri Lanka, I think we will do very well again. It is not a one-man show," Best noted.
The ICC Champions Trophy will feature eight teams: Australia, England, India, New Zealand, Pakistan, South Africa, Sri Lanka and West Indies. The tournament will be played across three venues with the opening game of the tournament proper at the sold out Cardiff Wales Stadium on 6 June
The Windies have been drawn in Group B alongside India and South Africa who play the opening match - and Pakistan - the winner of the pool will play the runner up of England's group in Cardiff on June 20.
Tickets for all matches are available from www.icc-cricket.com, by calling 08442492013 or from the Stadium Ticket Office priced from £20 for adults and £5 for under-16s. Match tickets for the two warm-ups in Cardiff, West Indies v Australia on Saturday 1 June and Australia v India on Tuesday 4 June are also now available, priced £5 for children and £15 for adults in advance, £20 on the day.
WEST INDIES FULL SQUAD
Dwayne Bravo (Captain)
Denesh Ramdin (Vice Captain/Wicketkeeper)
Tino Best
Darren Bravo
Johnson Charles
Chris Gayle
Jason Holder
Sunil Narine
Kieron Pollard
Ravi Rampaul
Kemar Roach
Darren Sammy
Marlon Samuels
Ramnaresh Sarwan
Devon Smith
AUSTRALIA FULL SQUAD
Michael Clarke (Captain)
George Bailey
Nathan Coulter-Nile
Xavier Doherty
James Faulkner
Phil Hughes
Mitchell Johnson
Clint McKay
Mitchell Marsh
Glenn Maxwell
Mitchell Starc
Adam Voges
Matthew Wade
David Warner
Shane Watson
