Despite not playing for the West Indies for almost six years, Ravi Rampaul believes his experience will be an asset to the West Indies when the two-time champions begin their defense on October 23.

Rampaul, who turned 37 on Friday, October 15, was the leading wicket-taker in last month’s Hero CPL in the Caribbean with 19 wickets. Speaking with the media on Saturday from the West Indies training base in Dubai, Rampaul said players like him and Dwayne Bravo will be able to lean on their experience to bring success to the West Indies.

“My experience will help and there’s Dwayne Bravo as well,” Rampaul said, speaking from West Indies’ base in Dubai.

“We have a lot of guys who have been playing a lot of T20 franchise cricket around the world and we could feed off each other with our experience and when different situations in the game come up, we can come together and have a plan to go ahead.

“I think going into big World Cup games, you would need experience. The team that was selected has a lot of experienced guys and a lot of young guys as well – guys that have played around the world in different conditions. We know that the games come quick and fast. The experienced guys, more so, will know how to manage themselves to play back-to-back games or play games every other day with recovery and getting stuff done. Yeah, the experience will help us throughout the tournament.”

Fourteen of Rampaul’s 19 wickets came during the Powerplay and in the death overs during the CPL and the veteran Trinidadian sees himself playing a similar role in the world cup.

“Yeah, definitely. I’ve done a lot of practice bowling in the three areas of T20 cricket and whatever situation I’ve to play for the West Indies, I’ll try to do my best. I strive on the tough areas of the game to come out on top. So, whatever situation I’m put under, I’ll try to come out on top,” said the bowler who has been playing in England for a number of years before returning to the CPL for this year’s tournament.”

The West Indies have the first of their two practice matches tomorrow, October 18, against New Zealand. They play Pakistan on October 20 before they bow into World Cup action on October 23 against England.

The West Indies are the only team to have won the ICC T20 World Cup twice – in 2012 and 2016.