Following a late burst from the West Indies bowlers at the end of day four yesterday of the first Test against England, Windies head coach Phil Simmons is pleased with their effort.
Speaking to the media via West Indies’ virtual press conference at the end of the penultimate day, Simmons said, “I am extremely pleased with the way the bowlers bowled today …”
He said “before lunch and more so when [Ben] Stokes and [Zak] Crawley were trying to take it away from us, the patience exhibited from us, you know it’s something we been asking for a while and today it showed up and we bore the fruit of that in the evening session other than that you can’t say more than they stuck to the task.”
The head coach reckoned “It’s been a special day for them, it was difficult in the morning, even between lunch and tea but in the evening they came out trumps because they persisted,” with the Caribbean side picking up one wicket before lunch and two more before Tea.
With Stokes and Crawley resisting West Indies in a 98-run fourth-wicket partnership, Simmons credited his captain Jason Holder for his determination to get the breakthrough.
“It’s what he [Jason] does, he comes back and puts in the spells for the team and that’s the way he leads the team and I didn’t expect anything different, he was bowling for a while and you expect him to change but he wanted to get that breakthrough for his team so don’t expect anything different from him, that’s the quality he brings to the team,” Simmons said.
From the breakthrough Simmons added, “It showed the persistency of the bowlers, we were fighting all day and Stokes and Zak, they started to take the bowling apart but the persistency of Jason and them and then Alzarri [Joseph] spell was a huge spell too because on the back of what Jason did he came and got a couple wickets soon after that so it is commendable how they stuck to it.”
The 57-year-old former West Indies all-rounder also recognized the contributions of the other three fast bowlers in Shannon Gabriel, Kemar Roach and Joseph.
Simmons said that it was good to see Gabriel picking up seven wickets so far in the match on the heels of an ankle surgery.
“I think it shows his desire to play for West Indies and coming back from an ankle surgery and doing in all the hard work he has done even during lockdown in Trinidad he was finding a way to train and get himself fit for this series, you can only compliment him it’s great to have him back on the park and I’m sure Jason is happy to have him and Roach is happy to have him as an opening partner,” he opined.
Speaking about Joseph, Simmons said, “Alzarri is coming up with them, he’s just started and it’s great to see the combination and how they are working together, I think that’s the important thing, how they work together and it shows they are improving.”
Judging from the position of the match at the end of the day with England leading by 170 runs with two wickets in hand, Simmons contended that his side will need to wrap up England’s innings as swiftly as possible in order to chase as little as possible.
“All you can do is go out and try and get the two remaining wickets for as little runs as possible and bat normally because if we bat for five hours tomorrow to chase 180-190 then it’s a normal batting day, it’s not a chase where you have to go at the bowling so you would hope that whatever happens in the morning, whatever roller is used to flatten out the wicket a bit so we can get a good start,” Simmons reckoned.
The head coach further noted “whatever is put in front of us we got a day to bat, I think the confidence from the way we batted, the attitude from the way we batted in the first innings is going to be a huge plus for us when we bat second whether you chase 170 or 190 its going to be the same attitude and I have confidence in that.”
He stressed on the importance of Kraigg Brathwaite to the team’s batting department, labeling him as the “glue” that holds them together.
“Anytime we bat he [Brathwaite] is important to the team, I think he is the glue that keeps the team together, I think we need him to stay for a while and bat to hold things together and have everyone else play around him…I think everyone knows that’s the plan when we bat,” Simmons said.
