Hope was speaking after his 101 from 86 balls drove West Indies to a massive 421 all out in their final World Cup warm-up match against New Zealand. Valuable contributions were also made by Andre Russell (54* off just 25), Evan Lewis (50) and captain Jason Holder (47), whose side ran out winners by 91 runs.

“Believe it or not, there were some times when we consolidated. So that was beautiful. Just to play what was probably the perfect batting innings as a team. Hopefully, we can get 325 consistently. That is probably about par in these conditions. And then, the odd day we can get 400 and give the bowlers a little bit of leeway.”