BRIDGETOWN (Barbados), May 8: David Moore, the newly-appointed coach of the West Indies cricket team, has said that preparation would be the key to success in the forthcoming away series against England.

“We have the will to do well but we have to have the will to prepare to do well, we need to prepare ourselves to compete consistently well at the highest level,” Moore said as he took over the reins from Bennett King, who resigned as head coach of the West Indies after the World Cup.

“We are in a situation where we are coming off the back of playing a lot of one-day cricket and moving into Tests which is a real test of one’s skill,” stated Moore.

“In our last Test series (against Pakistan) we played some respectable cricket without gaining any wins and it now requires that we spend some quality time in preparing for Test cricket against a tough opposition (England) at home.”

“We do not have a lot of time, but we do have one warm-up game and we have to utilise the time effectively and get into the rhythm of Test cricket again,” said Moore, as the team assembled in Barbados ahead of their departure to England where they will play four Tests, three ODIs and two Twenty20 matches.

“Traditionally the wickets in England are a bit more fresh and have more moisture earlier in the season and it means the pitches would do a little bit more but having followed the English first-class season so far the wickets appear to be a little flatter with a lot of runs being scored.”

He conceded that losing Brian Lara would have its impact, but hoped that his team could look at the positive side of things.

“We’ve lost Lara which is a major loss and it leaves a big hole but it is a wonderful opportunity for all the batsmen to stake a claim in replacing him in the side.”

“We've got Daren Ganga, who has scored some quality runs, opening the batting, once we get through the new ball and establish a base for us to score runs we then need the middle order to capitalise on that and for players to go ahead to score Test hundreds and there is a chance for those batters to establish themselves.”

Moore also looked for consistent contributions from other players, insisting that both the top- and lower-order had roles to play.

“Also I'm looking for players like (Dwayne) Bravo and (Denesh) Ramdin to also score runs in the lower middle order; it’s an important area for us in the past and these guys need to perform,” Moore continued.

“Chris Gayle, Shivnarine Chanderpaul and Ramnaresh Sarwan are all quality batsmen but they are probably not happy with the amount of runs they have been scoring recently in Tests and we are looking to them to contribute in the batting order.”

“On the bowling side of things I feel Corey Collymore is a key in our attack, he has been frugal with runs scored against him and can get the ball to swing," Moore stated on his bowling attack.

“Overall we have a very good young team who are still learning about all facets of their cricket and I’m really looking forward to working with them during this tour and if they can get their processes right we can certainly compete with the opposition,” the coach expressed. —Agencies