“We have been successful at Perth over the years” – Phil Simmons backed his players to be able to bank enough pink-ball knowledge

West Indies are on a Test tour of Australia and will begin their final warm-up game on Wednesday with a four-day, day-night match against the PM’s XI in Canberra ahead of the Frank Worrell Trophy.

This will be their first match with the pink ball since 2018 before the second Test of the series in Adelaide. But between those two matches is a red-ball Test in Perth on a wicket that offers more bounce than Adelaide and Canberra.

West Indies head coach Phil Simmons was positive about the Perth match.

“We have been successful at Perth over the years … The carry and the pace of the pitch and batters being able to play shots freely.”

“I think (Canberra) will be a little bit different, but hopefully it won’t be too much different here to Adelaide.”

“It’s a good thing we have this game so we can get accustomed to what it’s going to do at different periods in the day and night and prepare ourselves for Adelaide.”

“That’s the things you have to look at, make sure we are bowling the right lengths with the ball. It’s going to be different to the red ball. It’s just getting accustomed to it.”

The West Indies have played only three pink-ball Tests in their time, but none in Australia.

Their record stands at 0-3, losing convincingly in matches at Birmingham and Bridgetown and beating Pakistan in their other pink-ball match in the United Arab Emirates.

In contrast, Australia have won all 10 day-night Tests played with Mitchell Starc, the world’s best exponent of swinging the pink ball under lights.

Also Kraigg Brathwaite said,

“It’s still a cricket game, keeping out the good balls and putting away the bad balls.”

“As bowlers it will react different off the surface, especially when the lights turn on.”

“It’s something we have to be aware of as batters and bowlers. It tends to do a lot more at night, so it’s something we have to keep in our mind.”

The West Indies team was eliminated from the preliminary round of the recently concluded Twenty20 World Cup, and head coach Phil Simmons announced that he would resign after this tour.