West Indies head coach, Phil Simmons, has underscored the importance of West Indies coming out successfully in their upcoming 50-over series against hosts, Netherlands.
Speaking to the media yesterday, Simmons was cognizant of the value these matches bring towards the team gaining qualification for the next World Cup.
When asked about the tour he responded, “It’s for points, that will lead to us qualifying for the next world cup so it doesn’t matter who you have to play against, the points are the important things and to do that and to win those points you have to play and prepare properly.”
The former all-rounder explained that the batting is also under the microscope as they look to tighten all the loose ends and assess their mistakes.
“I think the most important thing is how we play the cricket as we’ve had occasions in the past where we have found ourselves in a good position at the start and the batsmen just let it slip away. We had other positions where we didn’t have good starts and the batsmen picked us up but still let it slip away before the 40th over, So I think my idea of success for this tour is how we play between over 11 and 40 and how we accumulate runs, score boundaries, everything that goes together with scoring big scores…”
Simmons continued, “We went and had a look at the ground and wicket today [Thursday] and it seems to be as good as you could get in Holland [Netherlands] at this time of the year so the wicket looks good, they were in the middle of preparation… it is going to seam a little, not as quick as the Caribbean so you have to adjust in the four days of practice in the nets [which] will be similar to the middle, so that’s how we have to assess it.”
West Indies are ranked ninth while Netherlands are sitting in 14th. Of Netherlands’ 92 One Day Internationals, they have won 34 with success over Bangladesh, Ireland and Zimbabwe.
These two sides have played twice with West Indies coming out successful on both occasions. This will be their first clash in 11 years. The three ODI’s will be played on May 31, June 2 and June 4.
Netherlands Squad: Pieter Seelaar (c), Scott Edwards (w/keeper), Shariz Ahmad, Logan van Beek, Philippe Boissevain, Aryan Dutt, Clayton Floyd, Fred Klaassen, Vivian Kingma, Ryan Klein, Bas de Leede, Musa Nadeem Ahmad, Teja Nidamanuru, Max O’Dowd, Vikram Singh, and Tonny Staal
West Indies Squad: Nicholas Pooran (c), Shai Hope (v/captain), Nkrumah Bonner, Shamarh Brooks, Keacy Carty, Akeal Hosein, Alzarri Joseph, Brandon King, Shermon Lewis, Kyle Mayers, Anderson Phillip, Rovman Powell, Jayden Seales, Romario Shepherd, and Hayden Walsh Jr.
