‘I think we can pull it off’

— Lendl Simmons tells Stabroek Sports

West Indies opener Lendl Simmons, who batted his team into today’s World T20 Cup final believes that his side can beat England once they turn up with their A game.

“I think we can pull it off (beating England) once we don’t get over confident and we turn up with our A game”, Simmons told Stabroek Sport during and exclusive interview yesterday on the eve of the West Indies/England final which bowls off this morning.

The 31- year-old Trinidadian who smoked an unbeaten 82 against India in Thursday’s semi-final where the West Indies gunned down 192 with relative ease, admitted that while his team was upbeat ahead of today’s final, they will not be taking the English lightly.

Lendl Simmons
Lendl Simmons

“It’s not gonna be a walk in the park, but we have defeated them in the preliminaries and they also know how to plan and what to expect so we have to make sure we use that physiological advantage”.

Simmons,who was originally a part of the team, was forced to miss most of the tournament due to an injury but was recalled for the semi-final after Andre Fletcher picked up an injury said that while his knock was special, his team’s all-round performance in the match was not to go unnoticed.

“I rate it as a good knock being there till the end and seeing my team to victory. It’s not the best innings I have played but I still rate it. Injury or not it’s always important batting in the middle overs as it sets up the game for the big-hitters in the end”, Simmons explained.

Concluding his interview with this newspaper, Simmons lauded the fighting spirit and aggression shown throughout the competition by the former champs who are in a position to now possibly become two-time World T20 champs.

“Wickets always bring you back in the game when you’re defending runs, so being there was very important to not bring them back into the game especially being the set batsman in.

“I think all the overs we batted was crucial chasing a target of 190 our run rate could afford to drop. We maintained a healthy run rate which made it easier in the end, but seeing that the way Johnson (Charles) and (Andre) Russell batted took pressure off making it every over a good one,” he ended.

Alexander Ross, Sports Journalist, Stabroek News