West Indies head coach Phil Simmons marked batting full 50 overs as the team’s topmost priority ahead of their three-match ODI series against India, beginning on July 22 in Port of Spain, Trinidad.
The Nicholas Pooran-led side were recently clean swept 0-3 against Bangladesh, with batting struggles being a feature of their failure. The hosts had managed 149/9 from 41 overs in a rain-reduced series opener, before being bundled out for 108 (35 overs) and 178 (48.4) in subsequent games – all while batting first.
During a media interaction ahead of the series, Simmons identified that aspect as a definite area to work upon.
“The main thing is how we bat our 50 overs…we have to bat 50 overs and put our innings together and partnerships together. Somebody has to be looking to score a hundred and hold the team together. Batting-wise that is it.”
“The bowling and the fielding has been improving daily. We rank ourselves very highly on the fielding. The bowlers have been doing well and we have to continue restricting and getting wickets – that’s the only way we can keep totals low and continue to win games.”
Simmons, who represented the West Indies in 26 Tests and 143 ODIs between 1987 and 1999, believed that the batters can’t be criticised for a below-par show on challenging surfaces, and expects better pitches to be prepared at home in future.
“I can’t look past the batters here yet. I think you judge people on good wickets. We had good performances in the Netherlands and good performances in Pakistan. You come [home] and you get indifferent wickets where guys have to fight for runs and we agree that we should’ve fought a little harder, but I can’t come down [on them].
he remarked.
“These wickets [at Queen’s Park Oval] look really good and let’s see how they play and we can judge them from this. Yes, India is a stronger bowling team but we expect a better batting performance.”
West Indies haven’t beaten India in a bilateral ODI series since their 4-1 triumph at home under Brian Lara in 2006.
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