PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad, CMC – West Indies coach Phil Simmons yesterday acknowledged the poor quality of some pitches across the region as he expressed confidence that what appear to be good surfaces in Trinidad will produce better results when the men in maroon take on India in the upcoming CG United ODI series.
The pitch at the Guyana National Stadium came under scrutiny in the last ODI series which the West Indies lost to Bangladesh last weekend.
The Caribbean side partly blamed the surface which was helpful to Bangladesh’s spinners but put the batsmen at a disadvantage, as they struggled to put big scores on the board – 149 in the opening match, followed by 108 in the second which was the second lowest-ever against Bangladesh, and 178 in the third and final match of the series.
“In the last game we showed what we should have shown in the first two games on what were . . . bad cricket wickets on the whole,” Simmons said in an interview here, where the squad is training ahead of the three-match series starting tomorrow at the Queen’s Park Oval.
Responding to queries about whether groundsmen were being informed of the recurring complaints about pitches generally, Simmons responded: “You have to let them know it’s unacceptable, it’s not nice. It’s something that we throughout the Caribbean have to work on because the better wickets we get for our young players to grow up on, the better batsmen we get, the better fast bowlers and spinners we get, so it’s a conversation we have all the time.”
Simmons is anticipating improved fortunes for the West Indies in the upcoming three-match ODI series.
The head coach said he saw a significant difference between the wickets at the National Stadium in Guyana and at the Queen’s Park Oval in Trinidad.
“The surface looks like some work has been put into it and it looks good. The two wickets that we are gonna play these three games on look really good the last couple days,” he said.
“Yes, it’s a stronger bowling team but we expect a better batting performance from the squad . . . . We had two days practice – we practised yesterday; we got a good session yesterday and a really good session today. We didn’t get any sessions between Dominica and Guyana [between the T20I and ODI series against Bangladesh] because . . . the rain stopped us from practising. So I think the two sessions I’ve seen so far, the guys seem to be switched on again,” Simmons added.
Following the ODIs, West Indies and India will face each other in a five-match T20I series starting at the Brian Lara Cricket Academy in Trinidad and continuing in St Kitts where the second and third matches will be held at Warner Park. The teams will head to Florida for the last two matches set to be played at Central Broward Regional Park Stadium Turf Ground in Lauderhill.
