The national team have been on the end of some savage beatings over the past few months, but coach Gus Logie is remaining stubbornly upbeat as he prepares his charges to face the might of Sri Lanka tomorrow.

Speaking after the team’s practice session yesterday morning, the Trinidadian said there was little more he could do to assist the players other than encouraging them to think positively and believe in themselves against opponents who are far superior to them in all facets of the game. “At this point in time the preparation in terms of the technical side of things is finished really and truly,” he said.

“They’ve worked very hard over the last two years to get to this point and improve themselves. They’re as ready as they’re going to be.

“They’re going to be coming against players of the highest quality and not just us, but all the Associate nations, are going to be severely tested in this World Cup.

“It’s the ultimate challenge for teams like Bermuda, Canada and others to take on the biggest and best teams in world cricket. From my point of view as a coach, right now it’s all about sending out positive vibes to the players, ensuring that they play the ball and not the person and that they realise they’re playing against human beings and not gods.

“That was the problem we had against England. As I said before, the guys were a little star-struck in that game when we batted and that showed in our performance.

“But hopefully now we’ve had a couple of warm-up matches and have got that out of our systems. We shouldn’t be overawed against Sri Lanka and if we go out there and do the basics well there’s no reason why we cannot emerge from the game with our heads held high.”

Asked by a Trinidadian journalist what he expected his players would gain from playing on the grandest cricketing stage of their lives, Logie said the experience of “rubbing shoulders” with some of the game’s greats would work wonders for the team when they eventually returned to playing back among the Associates and attempted to re-qualify for the World Cup at the ICC Trophy in 2009.

“Playing against the likes of Sachin Tendulkar and Muttiah Muralitharan should in most cases have a very positive impact on the team in terms of its development,” he said.

“Taking on the very best in the world in front of big crowds and all the media hype should mean that every one of these guys will be better equipped to handle players at the Associate level which is after all, the level at which we play most of our cricket. So the benefits of playing and competing at the World Cup will hopefully come to be seen further down the line.”

In terms of selecting the XI that will trot out onto the Queen’s Park Oval tomorrow in front of thousands, Logie was giving very little away.

When asked, however, about the potential make-up of the opening partnership — perhaps the sole major selection headache that remains — Logie said enough to suggest that they would ultimately settle for the experience and skill of Clay Smith and Dean Minors to lead the charge.

“We’ve tried a few different combinations in that area over the past few months to try to come up with what we feel will work best,” he said.

“And at the end of the day after all the experimentation I think we’ll be looking to a couple of the senior players to take responsibility for the opening positions.” Meanwhile, assistant coach Herbie Bascome insisted the Island’s batsmen needed to demonstrate greater patience and improved shot-selection against the Sri Lankans than they did against both England and Zimbabwe in St. Vincent.

“I’ve said it to the guys over and over again, we must bat the 50 overs out no matter who we are playing against,” he said.

“If all the Associate nations can bat out their 50 overs, bowl tidily and pick up say, five or six wickets in the field, then realistically that’s all we can ask for.”