West Indies’ head coach Phil Simmons is banking on the abilities of the Caribbean men to get the job done despite the perceived lack of preparation if the International Cricket Council T20 World Cup gets underway.
Due to take place from October 18 to November 15 this year in Australia, the event remains tentative as the world battles the Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.
Simmons, however was not reluctant to speak on the tournament and opened up on Trinidad radio I955FM about the possibilities should the tournament be played.
COVID-19 has so far forced a two-month loss of cricket worldwide and this state of affairs is likely to continue. As a result, West Indies are poised to lose a considerable amount of international matches which would have served as preparation for the World Cup.
The Caribbean side was booked to battle New Zealand in three One Day Internationals and three T20Is in July before facing South Africa in two Tests and five T20Is prior to the grand tournament.
However, with their three-Test series against England shifting and overlapping into the New Zealand tour, it seems unlikely that that series will be played due to the time available for the remaining season.
Simmons, when asked about the loss of those matches replied, “I think the only disadvantage it places is how much work the guys are able to do before they go there if it is happening.”
The head coach added, “I think T20 is the one format that with the squad we have would be able to get themselves in a position that we are able to play to our standards in a shorter space of time than maybe the test players would do…So I think the squad for the T20 is more seasoned than the younger squad in Test cricket.”
Another consideration is the Caribbean Premier League (CPL) serving as preparation for the World Cup and Simmons believes that it is an important tournament that is used in the selection of the squad for the two-time champions.
“It [CPL] is an important part of selection for the West Indies squad and if a safe environment for it can be found and it can be played, it will be a massive help for the players who would then be selected for the squad to go to the World Cup if it is on, that they have been playing T20 cricket even though it is only CPL and not International games there will still be that amount of match practice they will be getting from it,” Simmons noted.
CPL is expected to take place from August 19 to September 26 but like the World Cup remains in discussions due to the pandemic.
