JOHANNESBURG, South African – Marlon Samuels, who slammed a belligerent half century to lead the West Indies to victory over Kenya at Benoni, says that he is enjoying the shortest version of the game at the moment.

"I'm just picking up where I left off in England with good form with the bat, it's Twenty20 and it's my kind of game and if you can finish a team off in 15 over once you're ahead then you have to go for the kill, you don't want to leave it up to another batsman," said Samuels who scored a blistering 63 from 30 deliveries to lead the West Indies to a comfortable 6 wicket victory.

The West Indies successfully chased Kenya's respectable 155 for 5 from 20 overs thanks to Samuel's heroics along with solid support from the ever reliable Shivnarine Chanderpaul who made an unbeaten 46 from 33 deliveries at Willowmoore Park.

"I went out there after we had lost two quick early wickets but Shiv was still out there and I bat well with Shiv so I gave him the support by pushing singles as he played a few shots and I got my eye in, then I carried on by taking on more responsibility," Samuels explained of his strategy as he got stuck into the Kenyan attack.

The right hander who hit six sixes and three fours said that he deliberately sought out the maximum on some occasions.

"Some of them were in my zone but some of them I went after knowing that I'm in good knick, I'm using that out in the middle because I have to get accustomed to getting rid of the ball easily," said Samuels who hit 28 runs, including four sixes, from Kenyan captain Steve Tikolo's second over, the thirteenth of the innings.

"In the bowling department we looked a bit rusty and bowled too many wides and in the field we dropped a few catches but we are looking decent as a team and I'm sure we will have a few more intense training sessions to work on the weak parts of our game," Samuels said.

The elegant right hander said he is looking forward to the steeper challenge tomorrow from New Zealand who lost to Australia in their first warm up game also at Willowmoore Park.

"I'm looking forward to playing New Zealand tomorrow, it will be a tougher team, a better challenge and we have started on a winning streak and we have to continue that," Samuels said.

And he said that the Windies were confident of upsetting South Africa in the tournament opener on September 11th.

"Hopefully we could pull off a win like in the 2003 World Cup opener, they (South Africa) are at home and they have the advantage but we are playing very good Twenty20 cricket so they are up for a challenge" Samuels warned.

And he said he was pleased with the way Ramnaresh Sarwan was handling the leadership role.

"I think Sarwan has been doing a very good job as a leader so far, the entire team is pulling with him and we are getting there and getting there very fast as a team, it's one for all and all for one," Samuels said
 

Summary: Kenya (5 wickets; 20 overs;  155 runs) /  West Indies (4 wickets; 17.3 overs;  156 runs)