Lendl Simmons: Man in the Middle
On consecutive days a few weeks ago, Lendl Simmons underwent contrasting rites of passage.
Two Saturdays ago, he turned 18. In the eyes of the law at least, he is now an adult. The previous day, on the field at Guarcara Park, Pointe-a-Pierre the teenager also came of age. His unbeaten 100 was his first century among the big boys, even though it was just a practice game.
Ivan Lendl, the Czech-born mutliple Grand Slam tennis ace of the 1980s and Simmons' cousin Phil, the former Trinidad and Tobago captain and West Indies player, have already made his given names household ones.
But for the teenager from Cane Farm Road, Tacarigua, the inaugural Carib Beer Cup season 2003 will provide him with the opportunity to truly make a name for himself.
A world title winner at 15 with the Costcutter West Indies team in 2000, an Under-19 West Indies World Cup representative and a WI ?A? team tourist to England in 2002, Simmons has the makings of a future star.
A middle order batsman with keen eyes and strokes on both sides of the wicket, a wily medium pacer, good enough to have taken three wickets for six runs in his first appearance in regional cricket, and a sure handed, athletic fielder anywhere, young Simmo is an all-round talent.
Last season, given four matches in the Busta Cup and Busta International Shield, Simmons averaged a creditable 41.25, batting largely with the tail.
But like all of his West Indian contemporaries, he faces the significant challenge of making good on that talent.
"Number one, it's going to be a bit harder because everybody knows Lendl now and they're going to make him work harder for his runs," notes coach Simmons.
"He's got to understand that because he made an 'A' team tour, eyes are going to be on him and that's going to make things harder because there will be expectations and he?s got to fulfill those expectations, maybe from himself, from the team and moreso from spectators."
The question now though is, can Lendl deliver this season?
"I don't know what he expects of himself," says the coach, "but I am sure that he has the potential to do well in the competition. But it's up to him now to go out and show people that he's capable of doing it day and day out...If he expects things to be easy, it's not going to happen."
Young Simmons however, seems ready for what faces him.
"At the higher level right, the runs are harder to come. There will not be plenty bad balls, so I'll go in, take my time...exactly like how I scored this hundred.
The Guaracara century was a calculated effort built on these principles: "Don't study runs, just try to middle the ball, play straight, get my blood flowing."
Young in years and fresh of face he may be, but Simmons seems always to play with a plan. Even with his lack of experience, he was able to eke out valuable runs with the T&T lower order last season, manipulating the strike as best he could.
"I didn't really expect to play for Trinidad (so soon). So I really put my mind to making some runs and doing my best for the last three games," he says. "I was nervous at first, but I tried to overcome it by thinking professional."
And it is that thinking ability that coach Phil identifies as Lendl's most striking characteristic. "A lot of his strengths develop from the fact that he can read the game. I think he is a very good reader of the game and he knows how to play in hard situations.
"But, because he can read the game, I think he gets complacent or lazy at some times mentally, and he doesn't look at the game as he should. I think that's what he's got to work on.
Mental lapses perhaps have so far prevented the compilation of big scores. Simmons is yet to score a regional 50. And in England where pitch conditions varied and the "coldness" proved a significant obstacle, he struggled.
But having resolved to play more patiently, to follow the pattern of Guaracara, Lendl is aiming high in the Carib series.
"For playing all the games, no less than 750 (runs) and hopefully, if I keep, I'll get 20 dismissals.
Those are lofty goals. But again, Simmons reveals an appreciation of what it will take to achieve them. "What I've learned so far is when you reach at this level, there's no more kicksing, everything is serious. You have to work hard for your runs because you are going to (sometimes) have two men in front your bat, men bowling tight. That is why you have to apply yourself and be committed."
This year's Carib Beer Cup will again become a proving ground for young Simmons. It will be a chance for the El Dorado Secondary schoolboy to cast aside the remaining traces of juvenile and to prove himself a man in the middle.
* SOURCE: Trinidad Express.