KOLKATA, India, CMC – Head coach Phil Simmons says West Indies will use their final official warm-up match of the Twenty20 World Cup today against Australia, to allow players to streamline their roles for the group campaign beginning next week.
Simmons said not all players had managed to execute in the first warm-up last Thursday against India which West Indies lost by 45 runs, and therefore the fixture against the Australian would provide that opportunity.
“One, we’re trying to figure out what our best combination is and two, [we] just [want] to make sure everybody knows their role and what we’re getting into,” Simmons said yesterday.
“And it’s a case of guys looking to perform their roles – some did it, some didn’t [in the last game] – and we’re looking to create a stronger alliance to [the player’s] role as in you know what your role is and you perform that role and the team will do well. That’s what we’re doing in this game.”
West Indies head coach Phil Simmons … looking for players to perfect their roles ahead of the start of the Twenty20 World Cup.
West Indies were disappointing against India, dismissed for 140 in pursuit of 186 at Eden Gardens, as their batting struggled against the spin-based attack.
With Australia bringing a different type of opposition, Simmons said that type of variety would serve West Indies well going forward.
“It’s a totally different team make-up and it’s a good thing because we … can see the two sides people can come at us with,” he said of Australia’s threat.
“So it’s for us to adjust to a different team and a different way of playing and I think that’s a good thing about the two totally opposite warm-up games we have gotten.”
Despite the loss to India, Simmons was impressed with the bowling of speedster Jerome Taylor whose four overs cost just 26 runs and yielded two wickets.
He pointed out that if the Jamaican’s form continued, it would solve one aspect of the Caribbean side’s problems, especially at the start of the innings.
“It’s good to see Jerome starting well because I think those first six overs will be the pain for us because we’ve bowled well in the middle and at the death we have (Dwayne) Bravo coming back and Jerome’s been bowling well at the death with Andre Russell,” he pointed out.
“It’s good to see him bowling well in the first six [along with] Sulieman (Benn) too so if we can get that first six looked after especially with Jerome bowling two (overs) then it will help a lot. It’s good to see them bowling well.”
The weather here has been humid and today’s game is expected to be played in hot conditions. However, Simmons said he expected the players to adjust, especially having prepared in the United Arab Emirates for the last two weeks.
“It has been humid. We played in the night [against India] but tomorrow we play at three o’clock to see what the difference is, in case we have any games at three o’clock later on, so it will be taxing tomorrow and it’s a good thing,” he said.
“We prepared well in Dubai in the conditions there so now it’s a little bit hotter we should be ready for that.”
West Indies face England in their first group game on Wednesday at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai.
