Head coach Phil Simmons is pleased with the work of the West Indies players have put in towards what they have been looking to achieve ahead of the upcoming Test series against Bangladesh.
Speaking to the media yesterday, Simmons explained that he was satisfied with their approach in the practice match, particularly the batsmen’s application.
“The most important sign from the tour match was the guys attitude towards trying and put in place the things we are trying to work on and to spend time at the crease and develop their understanding of the wickets here, slow and low. It’s a little bit different so it’s good to see them spending time at the crease,” he said.
The head coach revealed that during the preparation, playing spin was the team’s focus.
“We’ve been working predominantly on playing spin, using the crease, using your feet, sweeping, whichever one suits the particular batsman the best so we have just been pushing them harder to work on all the disciplines of playing spin.”
Meanwhile, from a bowling perspective, Simmons was also satisfied with the efforts of his spinners to adapt quickly to the conditions.
“All the bowlers bowled well. All the spinners as you mentioned, bowled well and it’s good to see they have been able to adjust to the wickets. The wickets are not as is in the Caribbean and it’s good that they have been able to adjust to the wickets and it’s good to see them get a chance to bowl overs.”
While not getting a wicket in the warm up match, Simmons was impressed with the performance of Guyanese left-arm spinner, Veerasammy Permaul and clarified that all members of the squad are still up for selection.
“Everybody who is here is close. I wouldn’t say anyone is closer than the other. I think he’s bowled well since he’s been here. He works hard as does everyone else in the squad and he does work hard and he is up for selection. Everyone is fit and ready to go so maybe tomorrow evening we will decide what the final XI is,” the head coach said.
He added: “The spinners are always going to have an impact whichever two of the three main spinners play so it’s something we are looking forward to see how much of an impact and what type of wicket we also get. We haven’t seen the Test wicket for five days now.”
Simmons also made it clear that despite the slow nature of the wickets there is always a role for the fast bowlers and medium pacers.
“It’s about them knowing and adjusting to what lengths and line they have to bowl on these wickets.”
Looking at the opposition, the head coach acknowledged that Bangladesh was a very strong side at home regardless of who the opposition is but with about 12 months away from Test cricket, he reckons there could be a vulnerability in the side early on that his troops could capitalize on.
He reasoned, “I think a bit of their vulnerability could be early in the Test because as mentioned before, they haven’t played any international Test cricket for a year now and getting back into it might have a little vulnerability early on but I’m sure that will be soon be taken care off because they have a fairly experienced team with the likes of Tamim [Iqbal] and Shakib [Al Hasan]…”
