EAST LONDON, South Africa - (CMC) - West Indies coach Gus Logie is taking positives from his team's rain-ruined warm-up match against Border that ended in a draw today at the Mercedes Benz Park.
With the West Indies ahead by 27 runs on first innings and holding an overall lead of 195, play in the four-day fixture was abandoned for the second day in a row because of rain and a wet outfield.
"Two days out of four is certainly some sort of setback, but obviously we are going to look at it as positively as possible. We had two good days," Logie told CMC Sport this morning.
Shivnarine Chanderpaul (98) and Brian Lara (81) had pushed the West Indies to 278 in their first innings, and reserve bowlers Adam Sanford (5-53) and Dave Mohamed (3-89) restricted the home side to 251 all out.
Then struggling Ramnaresh Sarwan stroked an unbeaten 71 and backup batsmen Dwayne Smith (31) and Carlton Baugh (30) helped the touring side to 168 for three at the close on Saturday.
"The players had a run, bowlers had a good spell, the batters had a good run, it's nice to see (Ramnaresh) Sarwan coming back into some kind of form," Logie said.
"Sarwan and Sanford did well, and the continued form of the captain (Brian Lara) and (Shivnarine) Chanderpaul is also something that we need to keep maintaining the standards that we have set before, and we are looking forward to the next few days and certainly the Test match," Logie said.
Logie, in his first year as West Indies coach, said the team management will focus on keeping the players physically sharp ahead of Friday's second Test in Durban although the rain break may have been a useful lull on their hectic African tour that started eight weeks ago in Zimbabwe.
"What we'll try to do in the next day or two is to utilise the gym, (sports therapist) Ronald Rogers certainly has a programme for the players to try to keep them as physically fit as possible, so we are going to try to make sure that that continues and at the end of the day, a needed rest might be also something that is welcomed by some of the players. We have a few injury problems as you know, so we'll certainly look at the next few days as some sort of positive," Logie said.
Opening batsman Chris Gayle and pacer Corey Collymore are both nursing hamstring injuries and appear doubtful for the Boxing Day Test match, but work continues to get them fit again.
"It's being managed quite carefully. The physiotherapist, between herself and Rogers they are doing everything possible to get them as fit as possible, and the players themselves are looking forward to getting themselves ready for the next Test match," Logie said.
The West Indies travelled to Durban yesterday for the second Test.
South Africa lead the four-Test series 1-0 after a 189-run victory in Johannesburg last Tuesday.