West indies have now left for a tour of the Netherlands and There three ODIs will be played on the may 31st, june 02nd and 04th.
West Indies head coach Phil Simmons joins the discussion and spoke on the tournament. He said that 11-40 overs was very important for the tour to be successful and Furthermore,
“I think, to me, the most important thing is how we play the cricket. We have had occasions in the past where we have put ourselves in good positions at the start and the batsmen just let it slip away…before 40 overs.”
He added,
“So I think my idea of success on the tour is how we play between overs 11 and 40 and how we accumulate runs, how we score our boundaries, everything that goes together in putting on big scores that would happen between those overs. So on this tour that is the going to be the highlight for me.”
He also said that the Dutch pitches were similar to the Irish and English pitches. However, he noted that the Wicket is not as fast as in the Caribbean, but they should be accustomed to in training sessions.
“The first thing you have to realise, it is cricket. people who have been playing cricket for a long time now. They have qualified for World Cups and the other part of it is for points that will lead us to the next World Cup. So it doesn’t matter who we have to play against, the 10 or the 30 points are the important things. and to do that and to win those points you have to play cricket properly and prepare properly.”
He further added,
“Not as quick as some of the wickets in the Caribbean but you have to adjust so hopefully in some of the practice sessions over the four days in the nets would be similar to the middle so that is how we have to assess it.”
The West Indies have a busy schedule and some difficult matches ahead. Before the Twenty20 World Cup, the mighty Pakistan will have to play several tournaments with India and Bangladesh. Therefore, the team building will start from here, the head coach added.
“We have more difficult games after here but this is where we start building this team, right here.”
West Indies squad : Nicholas Pooran (C), Shai Hope (VC), Nkrumah Bonner, Shamarh Brooks, Keacy Carty, Akeal Hosein, Alzarri Joseph, Brandon King, Shermon Lewis, Kyle Mayers, Anderson Phillip, Rovman Powell, Jayden Seales, Romario Shepherd, Hayden Walsh Jr.
Netherland squad : Pieter Seelaar (C), Scott Edwards (WK), Shariz Ahmad, Logan van Beek, Philippe Boissevain, Aryan Dutt, Clayton Floyd, Fred Klaassen, Vivian Kingma, Ryan Klein, Bas de Leede, Musa Nadeem Ahmad, Teja Nidamanuru, Max O’Dowd, Vikram Singh, Tonny Staal