By STEPHON NICHOLAS Friday, July 20 2012

TRINIDAD and Tobago Cricket Board (TTCB) selector, Dudnath Ramkessoon, has congratulated the West Indies team on their convincing victories against New Zealand in the Twenty20 (2-0) and ODI (4-1) series and commended them for the team spirit showed.

“They’ve been doing quite well and I’m impressed. It’s good to see the togetherness of the team and it’s important to get back to winning ways going into the Test series. You can see that the players are now starting to believe in themselves,” Ramkessoon declared.

Meanwhile, the local selector dismissed notions that the “Black Caps” team was a weak one as he cited the close finish in the final three ODIs which saw New Zealand prevailing in the third ODI by 88 runs before going under by 24 runs and 20 runs respectively in two thrilling finishes.

“Initially they looked quite ordinary but they have some good players. With the return of Ross Taylor and Brendon McCullum who were injured, they looked a much better bunch. I won’t say it’s a bad team,” he explained. The former TT player was not completely happy, however, with the regional batsmen who showed an unwavering affinity to try to hit boundaries and sixes to their detriment.

The regional batsmen struggled to find the gaps throughout the T20 and ODI series as the team failed to pick up singles with any regularity.

“They need to put some more thought in their batting because (against other teams) the calibre of bowlers will be different.

“We have to work the ball around, we have to think and play the game,” he said.

The TT selector was elated, however, with the efforts of Chris Gayle who was the most prolific scorer in the T20 and ODI series. The left-hander compiled 138 in two knocks in the T20s and blasted 220 runs in the five-match ODI series. “Chris is an explosive player. He’s a player that can change a game on his (best) day. He still needs to show some consistency to be successful but he can be destructive and put fear in opposing teams,” he pointed out.