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WEST INDIES cricket team coach Phil Simmons is bracing for a heavy dose of spin during the two-Test series against hosts Sri Lanka later this month.
The West Indies team will face Sri Lanka, in Galle, from November 21-25 and November 29-December 3.
During a zoom media conference on Thursday, Simmons said, “It will be a heavy dose of spin. When they played against England (in January), they even opened their bowling with a spinner.
“We’re going to be focusing a lot on how we combat that spin with the new ball and bat as normal after that,” added the WI coach. “We played alright in Bangladesh (in the 2-0 Test series win in February). We need to bring that same sort of mentality that we had on that tour.”
The West Indies are coming off a miserable ICC T20 World Cup, where they won only one out of their five preliminary round matches.
“Yea, (it was) a huge disappointment,” Simmons said. “We want to get back to winning ways, especially winning away, which we did at the start of the year. It will be nice to finish the year the way we started.”
Opening batsman Jeremy Solozano is the only uncapped player in the 15-man Test squad.
“(He’s) a compact young opener,” Simmons noted. “We keep searching for the captain’s (Kraigg Brathwaite) partner. He looked the best in the recently-concluded Best versus Best matches and he’s got his chance.
“We’ll keep our fingers crossed that he’s the piece of the puzzle that we’re looking for at the top (of the order). We’ve tried a lot of players.”
Brathwaite, speaking after the team’s first training session on Thursday, expressed his delight upon the completion of the quarantine phase.
“Very happy,” said the WI captain. “It’s been a tough two days. (It’s a) nice hotel so we really can’t complain, but the guys are happy to be back out and to put in some work.”
Asked about his personal goals for the series, Brathwaite replied, “I want to lead from the front, as skipper and as an opening batsman. My job is always to build that foundation, so I look forward to leading and being on the field as captain.”
All-rounders Roston Chase and Jason Holder were the only members of the Test team who were part of the WI T20 World Cup squad.
Chase, in an interview upon his arrival in Sri Lanka, said, “It didn’t go well (for us) as a team. We didn’t get the results that we were looking for.
“Obviously, a disappointing campaign but I just have to put that behind me and look forward to going and play some red-ball cricket.”
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