February 03, 2007	Saturday	Muharram 14, 1428

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KINGSTON, Feb 2: West Indies coach Bennett King says he fancies his team's chance of winning the 2007 World Cup in the Caribbean.

West Indies won first two World Cups in 1975 and 1979 and, with home advantage, King believes they should be among favourites once again.

“Our form in One-day Internationals over past year is enough to see us as one of favourites. We have beaten world champions twice in five matches and, if only for that, we must be one of teams to fear. Like many Caribbean fans, I am very optimistic about our chances,” he said.

West Indies played 33 One-day Internationals in 2006, winning 18, losing 14, and one ended without a result. He believes such record gives West Indian fans legitimate reason to feel their team can win title.

“I think we have seen a progression of play in limited-overs format. The concentration levels are shorter and game is better suited to that kind of span,” King noted.

King recognises knockout tournament can be a great leveller. “Anyone on given day, if they have good day, can win game of limited-overs cricket. If a top side has below-par game, they can lose. What we've got to do is to make sure we don't play bad games.”

This is extra-special World Cup for West Indies, but he insists home advantage is not all it is cracked up to be. Sri Lanka won when it was staged in India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka in 1996, but no other host nation won.

King is attempting to maintain professional approach based on fundamentals. First priority is to avoid kind of results endured in last year's Cup in Malaysia and the Champions Trophy in India where they beat Australia in both competitions, but collapsed in finals against same opposition.

“Our bad games tend to be ones when we don't score over 150. With better sides, their bad games are when they don't score 250. We've got to avoid this.

“This gives players lot of confidence. We just have to find formula to maintain consistency.”

There is cause for optimism, and he believes work being done is producing results.

“I am disappointed we have not won more games, particularly at Test level. There are turning points in every match but, if you play well, have more experience, you will play well.

We are getting to that point now. We dropped vital catches in recent series against Pakistan. Had we held them, we could have turned series around,” he added.—Agencies