The Independent Voice of West Indies Cricket

Batting at fault, not preparation, says Simmons

Sun, Jun 13, '21

 

Media Watch

GROS ISLET, St Lucia (CMC) — Head Coach Phil Simmons has defended West Indies’ preparation for the opening Test following their crushing innings defeat inside 2 ½ days here yesterday but said they now needed to raise their intensity and rebound strongly in the second Test beginning here this week.

The home side produced two lacklustre batting efforts, rolled over for 97 in their first innings and then for 162 in their second, to slide to a heavy loss late in an extended first session on yesterday’s third day at the Daren Sammy National Stadium.

While West Indies spent a month prior to the opening Test in a high-performance camp, Simmons said they had been undermined by poor batting.

“Bad judgement, bad shot selection — however you want to put it. You can’t be out for 97 [in the first innings] and there’s any other question [about the result]. It’s just about bad selection in the first innings especially,” Simmons lamented afterwards.

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