Latest update November 2nd, 2024 1:00 AM
Latest News
- Exxon says oil production in Guyana increased by 60% since last year
- Guyana’s oil funds can fund modernization of electoral system-AFC
- Israeli attacks kill dozens in Gaza, Lebanon as ceasefire remains elusive
- Six-year-old child dies after swallowing thumbtack at Crane school
- Acting Chief Magistrate now assigned to preside over Elections Fraud case
This has never been a ground like that says Simmons
Not getting what he wants to improve Windies cricket
By Sean Devers in Trinidad
Phill Simmons, the 53 year-old West Indies head Coach said he has played at the Queens Park Oval for many years and has never seen a match called after less than a session of play being possible.
India coach Anil Kumble and West Indies coach Phil Simmons are engaged in conversation. ©Associated Press
West Indies now moves to Florida where they play India in two T20 games. Their next Test assignment is against number one ranked Pakistan in the UAE.
Only 22 overs of play were possible in the fourth Test in Trinidad and there was no play on the last four days despite the ground being blessed with brilliant sunshine.
“I am extremely surprised, because, as far as I know, in my years here, this has never been a ground like that,” he said. “I don’t know what is the position is over on the other side [the ground officials], but it was really bad and after two days of sun, and when I saw it yesterday morning, I couldn’t believe how bad it was. I don’t know what the position is there and what caused that, but I’m surprised and I never expected that here,” said a baffled Simmons, who scored a century and four fifties in his 26 Tests between 1988 and1997.
This was the third shortest abandoned Test match in the history of this format in the West Indies.
In 1998 at Sabina Park in Jamaica, England had lost three wickets inside the first hour against West Indies and the match was abandoned after 56 minutes, due to a dangerous pitch.
In 2009 the second Test of the series between England and West Indies was halted after 10 deliveries in Antigua. England were once again batting, but this time it was the safety of the home team’s bowlers that caused the umpires to call a halt.
The sandy surface was not allowing the bowlers sufficient traction in their run-ups. Match referee Alan Hurst declared it “unfit and dangerous”.
Reviewing the rain affected series Simmons said he thought the series was a little bit too up-and-down.
“We played well across maybe two hours, three hours sometimes, and the next two hours we would be down. And I think that was, for me, the major disappointment. We’ve shown that we can do things but not consistently enough. We batted well in Jamaica, but we went and did the same things we did in the first Test in the third Test. It’s disappointing that we weren’t consistent enough,” Simmons who was recently reinstated as Coach lamented.
According to the Trinidadian there are a lot of things that he asked for that has not been coming to fruition.
“I’ve asked for coaches to meet twice, maybe three times a year, and discuss cricket and so on. We need to make sure that whatever we’re doing upstairs is going down to everybody,” Simmons disclosed.
“I think in some cases you have to adjust techniques, which is a sad thing because it’s something that we should be doing at a level below. I think the same thing with mentality because when we come up here it’s a lot harder to get runs and get wickets.”
“I think at our domestic level it’s a lot easier, that patience and that time at the crease and things, if we bat two sessions in a domestic game a lot of the guys playing here would have a hundred or more. But if you bat two sessions here, it might be 60 or 70, so the patience at the domestic level is not tested as much as up here,” Simmons added.
If we don’t have the same objective, then we spin it up in muddles. I think that’s lacking. It’s quite a few things to be fixed, but at the end of the day the quality of cricket that is downstairs is not good enough for the maturity of the players to be quicker.”
“Things like our pitches and our practice facilities need to be better, a lot better, in order to produce players, not just fast bowlers as we’re lacking now, but batsmen, because the better the pitches the better the batsmen show themselves. Little things like that we need to put in place,” Simmons stressed.
Simmons believed that the gap between Test cricket and regional cricket needs to be filled.
“Whether it can be done with an academy, which we don’t have right now, A-team cricket…. which we have one series a year….we should have two to three a year. Something has to be done to fill that gap, you know? We’re missing a few things,” Simmons pointed out.
Similar Articles
THE BLUNT OF THE DAY
Sports
Features/Columnists
The tirade against the independent media continues unabated
…Peeping Tom Kaieteur News- In every democracy worth its salt, the press serves as the watchdog, the thorn in the side... more
Rising Gun Crimes in the Caribbean: Urgent Action required by all
By Sir Ronald Sanders Kaieteur News – There is an alarming surge in gun-related violence, particularly among younger... more
Weekend Cartoon
