Windies eyeing upset of Bangladesh in final: Nurse

Frontline spinner Ashley Nurse said yesterday’s defeat to Bangladesh had not dented the team’s confidence, and they were now fully focused on breaking their jinx against the Tigers in Friday’s final of the Tri-Nations Series.

West Indies went down by five wickets at The Village to follow up their eight-wicket loss to Bangladesh in their second game of the tournament last week.

The Caribbean side have now lost six of their last eight one-day meetings with the Asian side inside the last 12 months.

“Next game is the final so it’s the most important game of the series. All the work we did over the last couple games is all well and good but to get the win in the finals is the most important thing right now,” off-spinner Nurse said following the defeat.

“It’s a tournament where the final is the ultimate goal. They’ve gotten the better of us in the last two games but that doesn’t mean anything. We have to turn up on Friday and try to do the work.”

In the first match, West Indies managed just 261 and Bangladesh easily chased down their target with five overs remaining. Yesterday’s contest was much of the same, with the Tigers chasing a modest 248 and reaching their target with nearly three overs to spare.

Nurse, who has played 49 One-Day Internationals since his debut in 2016, said it was important not only for the Windies to bat well, but to place pressure on the Bangladesh middle order which was yet to be really tested.