Windies U-19 coach Graeme West insists the team must find a way to match New Zealand’s intensity as they prepare to face off in the quarterfinal of the ICC Under-19 World Cup, at the Willowmoore Park in Benoni on Wednesday.  

Both teams will enter the match-up at opposite ends of the spectrum so to speak.  While the West Indies have looked in splendid form after wins over Nigeria, Australia and England, New Zealand barely made their way into the final eight. The Kiwis managed just a solitary win in three games.  After no play was possible in their first fixture against Japan, due to rain, New Zealand defeated Sri Lanka but we then defeated by India.  Despite the differences in results to date, West insists the Caribbean team is taking nothing for granted.

“Most of the performances last week were very pleasing but now we are in the knockout stage and it’s about your performance in the last three games of the tournament, rather than the first three games,” West said.

“Certainly, New Zealand are always a very competitive team outstanding in the field and quite creative in terms of their batting and their bowling.  They played a reduced overs game against India and at one point they were 100 for 1 off 10 overs with their positive intent at the top of the order.  They fell away as spinners took hold but certainly it’s a warning to us in terms of the approach that they have and we’re going to have to match that.”