LEICESTER, England, CMC – Lendl Simmons used his uncle’s old stomping ground to slam his seventh first-class hundred against Leicestershire yesterday and enhanced his claims for a place in the West Indies side for the opening Test against England next month.
Simmons, whose uncle Phil played for Leicestershire, retired hurt on 102 with cramps in his right arm, as West Indies declared their first innings on 315 for six on the second day of their warm-up tour match at Grace Road.
He shared 154 for the fifth wicket with left-hander Brendan Nash to transform the complexion of the West Indies innings, after they slumped to 80 for four at the close on the previous day.
Nash made 78 before he, like Simmons, retired hurt and allowed others to gain valuable batting practice before the 100 overs – the maximum allowed for the first innings for three-day tour matches – had expired.
West Indies then restricted the home team, who made 182 in their first innings, to 51 for one when stumps were drawn.
Simmons reached his hundred from 192 balls with the last of his 11 fours through extra cover, and retired three balls later after batting a little more than four hours.
But he had been fortunate on 79, when stand-in Leicestershire captain Boeta Dippenaar, the former South Africa batsman, dropped him at slip off left-arm fast bowler Harry Gurney.
“It feels really good to get a century and get ready for the Test series against England,” said Simmons.
“I played against England in Trinidad and got a feel of Test cricket so I’m now looking to continue from there and make more progress.”
He added: “At the start, it was a bit difficult, but as time went on, it got much easier and I was able to play my strokes. It is a good start and I will be looking for more good scores in the upcoming matches.”
The fact that his uncle Phil, the former West Indies opener, played for five seasons at Leicestershire and helped them to two county championships was not lost on Simmons, who also made a hundred at the ground two years ago for West Indies-A.
“I am aware that he played here and did very well so I was looking forward to making an impact as well. I played here before and got a score so I came back looking for more. I felt really confident and I enjoyed the way I was stroking the ball” he said
Nash too, looked in fine touch and struck 11 fours from 171 balls in 3-3/4 hours as he and Simmons dominated the Leicestershire bowling before he retired, following a blow on his left thigh.
Dinesh Ramdin and Suleiman Benn – if not Darren Sammy – used the opportunity provided by Simmons and Nash retiring to get a meaningful hit and finished with 36 and 23 not out respectively.
Sammy became the last of three wickets for 42 runs from 21 overs for 18-year-old fast-medium bowler Alex Wyatt, when he was caught in the deep for three.
Ramdin, leading West Indies in the absence of Chris Gayle, who is playing in the Indian Premier League in South Africa, hit four boundaries in a fluent knock before he became Dippenaar’s maiden first-class wicket, when he was also caught in the deep, while Benn smote a six and three fours.
The first Test at Lord’s on May 6 to 10, and the second Test will be at the Riverside Ground in Chester-le-Street, starting May 14.