[ad_1]
West Indies coach Phil Simmons believes that the prolonged preparations after early arrival attributable to COVID-19 protocols have really performed a key half in his aspect’s four-wicket win over England in the first Test at Southampton.
West Indies, who arrived in England on June 9 and skilled in a bio-secure setting after that, beat the house aspect by 4 wickets on Sunday on the closing day of the first Test after the COVID-19 outbreak to take a 1-Zero lead in the three-match sequence.
“I think that has been the biggest influence on the performance. The fact that we’ve been here for that period of time, we’ve had quality bowling in the nets because we’ve had nearly 11 seamers here, you can’t put a price on that,” he mentioned on the eve of the second Test beginning at Old Trafford on Thursday.
READ | Team India’s home series against England in September set to be postponed due to Covid-19: Report
“I don’t like to go back into my (playing) days, but we would come to England and play something like three or four proper warm-up games before the first Test, and we would also have three-day or four-day games in between the Test matches. So I think that period of training goes a long way to how we performed in that first Test.”
While praising the resolve of his gamers in the first Test, particularly Jermaine Blackwood’s decisive 95 on the closing day and Shannon Gabriel’s nine-wicket haul in the match, Simmons warned the West Indies cricketers to protect in opposition to complacency.
“For me it was a great win because I think that it signified a lot of hard work being done by the players over the last four or five weeks. It was a top-class Test match, with good cricket played by both teams, and even coming down to the last hour, it could have gone either way.
“But you guard against complacency by just trying to do the same things you did before the first Test. Right now that Test match is history. We’ve got to be thinking about what we do from Thursday to Monday,” the 57-year-old former all-rounder mentioned.
He mentioned the first Test win is “history” and the focus ought to now be on the second match right here.
“You don’t come to England and just win a Test match,” he mentioned.
To come out on prime. It’s been nice for us, and it was necessary since you don’t wish to need to chase England in England. So the chasing is from their perspective now.”
Simmons, specifically, heaped reward on pacer Gabriel, who was initially not in West Indies’ first-choice 14, however was later added to the squad after he proved his health submit his return from an ankle surgical procedure.
“The hardest time for bowlers, after bowling from the morning, is that last session,” Simmons mentioned.
“To see him (Gabriel) and Alzarri (Joseph) come up trumps in that session is so pleasing to us. With him coming back from that ankle surgery and working as hard he has worked since we’ve been here, it was a joy to see him successful in that period.”
[ad_2]
Source link