BRIDGETOWN, Barbados, CMC – West Indies A will look for an improved performance when they face India A in the second four-day “Test” starting today in England.
The Caribbean side were completely outplayed in the opening fixture at Grace Road last week, going down by six wickets after their batting collapsed in both innings.
Head coach Hendy Springer said yesterday that the defeat had been a learning experience and he was now looking forward to a better showing especially in certain areas.
Debutant left-arm seamer Jaidev Unadkat grabbed 13 wickets in the match and Springer said they would be conscious of trying to counteract the 18-year-old.
“They are things we’re looking at … mainly we’ve got to settle in and not go for any big shots,” Springer told CMC Sports in a telephone interview.
“One of the other options … is moving out of the crease so they can get closer to the swing bowling because the guy (Unadkat) didn’t bowl a lot of short pitched deliveries. He was keeping the ball up and encouraging [the guys] to drive …”
In the opening match, Windies A fell for scores of 144 in their first innings and after trailing by 147 on first innings, only managed to get up to 257 in their second innings thanks to an 80-run, ninth wicket stand between Imran Khan (62) and Gavin Tonge (46).
Springer said despite the loss, there was much the squad could learn from, especially playing in different conditions.
“I’m looking at it as a positive experience because it was overcast and that’s the kind of experience we’ve got to expose our guys to,” said the former Barbados off-spinner. “That’s the only way they are going to become familiar.”
West Indies will look to some of their senior players for big scores and much of the responsibility will rest on their captain and opener Devon Smith, who has played 31 Tests.
The obdurate Kraigg Brathwaite, who got 13 and 1 in the last game, will also be looking for runs while Andre Fletcher, with 15 One-Day Internationals to his name, will want to also get a score of merit.
Unlike last week, the Caribbean side has trained in sunny weather this week and will be hoping for similar conditions to persist.
The match will be played at Whitgift School in South Croydon.
SQUADS:WEST INDIES A – Devon Smith (captain), David Bernard Jr, Omar Phillips, Lionel Baker, Kraigg Brathwaite, Andre Russell, Assad Fudadin, Odean Brown, Kirk Edwards, Andre Fletcher, Justin Guillen, Imran Khan, Gavin Tonge and Chadwick Walton.
INDIA A – Cheteshwar Pujara (captain), Wriddhman Saha, Bipul Sharma, Shikhar Dhawan, Chandrasejar Ganapathy, Iqbal Abdulla, Kedar Jadhav, Jaskaran Singh, Dhawal Kulkarni, Abhinav Mukund, Mahish Pandey, Ajinkya Rahane, Manoj Tiwary, Saurabh Tiwary, Sudeep Tyagi and Jaidev Unadkat.