Against the odds, West Indies head coach Phil Simmons, says that he is not counting his troops out of a series win as they prepare to face hosts, Bangladesh in three 50-overs and two Test matches.
Simmons hosted his first press conference for the tour yesterday via Zoom and indicated that it is always the intention to win a series.
The head coach admitted that Bangladesh are holding the “favourites” tag since they are at home and play well at home but did not rule out his team.
“I think any series you are going to the first aim is to win the series,” he said.
“I think it’s always going to be hard when you are away from home because if you watch around the world, every team plays well at home, it’s going to be a hard series at home but the first aspect is to win the series,” he added.
According to the Trinidadian, the second aspect is “to make sure we prepare well and give the players the best opportunity to perform on the stage in Chattogram and in Dhaka.”
While many have considered the team a depleted one since 10 of the first-choice players opted not to tour, Simmons is contending that the replacement players are hungry and eager to show they belong at the international level.
“When you come into a series, you come into a series to win a series and I think yes you might say that we don’t have a full team as you are saying but at the same time we have a team here who is hungry, who wants to do well and who is eager to play in these conditions and to fight and scrap in these conditions so when we left the Caribbean we left with a view of winning the ODI series…” he declared.
The head coach issued a challenge to the players currently in the squad to use the opportunity to cement permanent spots in the side and not just make up numbers.
“My message to all the players here, you are not here to fill in, I think you are here to give yourself a chance. You now have a chance to seal your place in the team. If you do well here and all goes well for you moving forward, you come here, you do well in the three games, the two test matches then you are putting yourself in a place where nobody could move you and you have that opportunity,” Simmons urged.
The former West Indies all-rounder said that he has seen positive signs with the group so far and does not find it hard to motivate them since they are hungry for success.
“I don’t think it’s hard to motivate these guys. Everybody here is hungry for success. I think everybody here wants to seal their places in the team and continue to go forward as we said before.
We’ve got a long year ahead of cricket and everybody wants to be part of it so there is no work in motivating anyone in this series…” he said. The limited overs series begins on January 19 at Dhaka followed by the second match at the venue two days later. The two sides will then travel to Chattogram for the third ODI on January 24. They will then switch to the longest format on February 2 then head back to Dhaka for the final Test on February 10.
