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Hope in awe of ‘completely new Brandon King’
HARARE, Zimbabwe, (CMC) – Shai Hope says he hopes Brandon King’s form can impact the rest of the batting group, as West Indies look to claw their way out of the indifference which has marked their ICC World Cup Qualifying campaign.
Opener King, on Wednesday, stroked exactly 100 – his second OneDay International hundred in as many months – as West Indies returned to their winning ways with a seven-wicket victory over minnows Oman.
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The 28-year-old King has been one of the Caribbean side’s leading batsmen in the tournament, averaging 41 from six innings.
“[He’s] an amazing player, someone I feel should be scoring runs every single innings. He’s just so easy on the eye,” Captain Hope told reporters.
“And again, I am very happy to see him scoring runs. He’s one of those players I actually look up to as a batter because of the way how he plays, the way he goes about his training.
“People think because
I’ve played more games that I can’t look up to someone, but I’m just happy to see Brandon scoring runs and I hope that it can translate into the rest of the squad, and the batting group continue to churn out those runs.”
King made his ODI debut four years ago and has played 30 matches during that time, averaging 34 and notching up two hundreds and six half-centuries.
The Jamaican stroked three of those fifties last year but still struggled somewhat, averaging 23 overall for the calendar year.
He has come into his own this year, however, averaging nearly 53 from 10 ODIs, and Hope believes this form was a reflection of the player having matured.
“A lot of it has to do with your mindset and the ability to play the situation,” said Hope, one of the leading batsmen in ODI cricket.
“For me, it is just understanding what is necessary and what the team requires in that situation, and it’s nice to see that Brandon is playing the situation a lot better now.
“When he started his career, he was in and out of form but I can see a completely new Brandon King, so hopefully the guys can learn from him, learn from all the experienced batters and we can continue to score big totals as a team.”
West Indies missed out on a 50-over World Cup for the first time in their history after suffering a shock defeat to Scotland last weekend.
The result came on the heels of equally disappointing losses to Zimbabwe and the Netherlands – the latter chasing down 374 before eclipsing the Caribbean side in a dramatic super-over.
And with the failed qualifying campaign leaving West Indies needing to regroup, Hope said one of the critical requirements now was for players to carry out self-introspection.
“The first thing we need to focus on is ourselves. We have to look deep within, understand what is required and then control what we can control,” Hope stressed.
“We can’t control the outside noise, things back home but we have to focus on the little things – the little one-percenters that we talk about in meetings –and really be determined to achieve those one-percenters as we go along because it doesn’t make the sense doing the same things over and over –that’s insanity.”
