Friday, December 15, 2006

by Gary Smith
Caribbean Net News Sports Correspondent
Email: gary@caribbeannetnews.com

KARCHI, Pakistan: West Indies fast bowler Daren Powell said he was quite impressed with his own performance, which helped the Caribbean side defeat hosts Pakistan in the fourth One Day International at Multan Cricket Stadium on Wednesday night.

Filling the vacant slot for leading pacer Corey Collymore, who was forced to sit out with a flu virus and for Jerome Taylor, who was being rested, Powell captured three wickets for 33-runs, his best limited overs bowling figures to help the Windies secured a seven-wicket victory.

"I am feeling good, I am impressed with myself except for a couple of extras I bowled, but it shows that my cricket is improving," Powell said.

He added that of the three wickets he bagged in the game, he mostly enjoyed removing aggressive opener "Shahid Afridi early on, because the delivery that bowled him is a pace bowler's dream delivery, a leg cutter which hits the stumps after deceiving the batsman."

When asked what was different about his game compared to his other previous performances, Powell said he just applied himself and stuck to the team plan. He also stated he would love to use this performance as a building point and would be working hard on improving his game so as to keep it simple.

"I just applied the basics and stayed more patient and did not go searching for wickets and just sticking to the team plan," the 28-year-old pacer said. "I want to keep giving a good performance for the team and do more work on control.

"I want to cut off the extras, the wides and no balls and work hard on keeping things simple."

Powell also took the time out to congratulate centurion Marlon Samuels and the Windies side on landing a solid all-round performance to keep themselves in the series.

"I want to congratulate the guys on the way we bowled in the game and Marlon (Samuels) played well," he said.

"It's good to see him getting among the runs, making another ODI hundred, and I hope this is one of many more hundreds to come, but if not I hope he produces good match winning innings. He showed yesterday (Wednesday) that he is a match winner."

The Jamaican who has ten one day internationals under his belt also hinted that he has the abilities to make runs and he is hoping he can improve his batting stats in the shorter version of the game.

"I'm working on my batting to make runs at the international level. I have a couple of half centuries at the first class level, but I haven't done so at the One Day International level as yet so that is my main focus apart from my bowling."

There have been speculations that Powell is more of a Test bowler, rather than a limited over player, but he disagreed, pointing to his last outing on Wednesday night as a reflection.

"I disagree with that notion. I believe that I am good at both forms of the game. My performance in the last game just goes to show that I can play one day cricket too and it is just for me to now keep on showing my good performances whenever I get the chance.

"Due to the fact that I'm playing in both versions of the game it is good to maintain a good line and length and to keep the scoring under three runs an over, so I don't think it is much different in terms of bowling in ODI and Test cricket in this era."

Other than Afridi who fell cheaply for one in the day's second over, Powell also claimed the wickets of Imran Farhat for 13 and Faisal Iqbal for 30.

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