Gros Islet \u2013 West Indies head coach Phil Simmons said the Test series win against Bangladesh, which extended the Caribbean men\u2019s recent winning streak, will boost their confidence as they prepare to face a tough Australia side later in the year.<\/p>\n
Speaking after the 2-0 series victory, which followed their series triumph over England in March this year, Simmons was full of praise for the entire team.<\/p>\n
The Windies will face the Aussies in a two-Test series, with matches starting on November 30 in Perth and December 8 in Adelaide, and the coach said the recent wins should give them a boost.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt should give us confidence, and we\u2019ve got time to prepare to go to Australia,\u201d he said. \u201cAustralia is always a difficult series, no matter what team you\u2019re going down there with, so we have to make sure we prepare well and continue our winning.\u201d<\/p>\n
Asked about the highlights of the Bangladesh Tests, Simmons gave the fast bowlers kudos.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t think the first pitch [in Antigua] was conducive to fast bowling, but we still sauntered on and at the end of the day, we got them out for low scores, and in (the second) Test, to bowl them out on the first day on what was a slow (pitch) by comparison to (pitches) we get here\u2026 I think the fast bowlers have to get a lot of credit throughout the series,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Simmons said pacer Anderson Phillip also gave a good account of himself on his Test debut in St Lucia, although there were some nerves.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think he had a good debut \u2013 two wickets earlier on \u2013 but [he had] a little bit of cramp,\u201d Simmons said. \u201cI think that comes with all the nervousness that goes into your first Test match.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf you\u2019re not nervous something is wrong, and I think he was nervous, and it didn\u2019t help him. But I think he bowled well when given the ball… so I think he had a very good debut.\u201d<\/p>\n
Another player for whom Simmons reserved special mention was all-rounder Kyle Mayers whom he said \u201cbrings in the wicket-taking factor\u201d and will become \u201ca force to be reckoned with\u201d.<\/p>\n
(CMC)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Gros Islet \u2013 West Indies head coach Phil Simmons said the Test series win against Bangladesh, which extended the Caribbean men\u2019s recent winning streak, will boost their confidence as they prepare to face a tough Australia side later in the year. Speaking after the 2-0 series victory, which followed their series triumph over England in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":14,"featured_media":275603,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[509],"tags":[15,147,18,3465,3274],"yoast_head":"\n