West Indies pace bowler Shannon Gabriel will have a good chance of featuring for the final Test squad against England if he can prove his fitness in the coming weeks.
“We have to put this in perspective. We selected 14, but Shannon, as we know, has come back from injury and being a senior member of the squad in the past two or three years we would have to look at him if he is up to that fitness level heading into the first Test,” Simmons told members of the media on a conference call on Saturday.
West Indies players will have "no friendships" with England bowler Jofra Archer in the upcoming Test series, according to Kemar Roach.
England host the Windies in three Test matches behind closed doors next month as international cricket returns following the coronavirus pandemic.
Star bowler Archer was born in Barbados and represented West Indies at Under-19 level before opting to play for England.
He is close friends with Windies duo Shai Hope and Chemar Holder, as well as being a former team-mate of Alzarri Joseph and Preston McSween.
But Roach insists Archer's relationship with many of the squad will have no impact on the cricket that will be played.
The series will be the fast bowler's first Test encounters against his former team, following their Cricket World Cup duel last year.
"Jofra made his decision and he's done a fantastic job for England so far but there will be no friendships during this series," said Roach, who is also from Barbados.
Not since their 1980s heyday have West Indies won a Test series in England, but two aspects of the forthcoming three-match encounter could work in their favour, according to head coach Phil Simmons. First, due to the behind-closed-doors nature of the Tests, in response to Covid-19, there will be no supporters in the stands to cheer the home side on; and second, instead of being halfway through their summer, England have not played competitive cricket for several months.
"I don't know if it will increase our chances, because both teams are under the same umbrella - for want of a better word," Simmons said. "The nice part for us is that 20,000 Englishmen raving for England, and that crowd support, it's not there for them. So that in a way will help us, so it's good from that point of view."
Asked about the standing start for both teams, he added: "It's a plus, because England hasn't come from a tour recently, and we've just been playing cricket at home. Because in a normal situation we would have been coming from camps and England would have been halfway through their season and the series would have been going on right now. So I think that is a plus for us, because it evens out things a little bit, with the fact they haven't been playing competitive cricket for a while also."
ST. JOHN’S, Antigua – Cricket West Indies (CWI) will host the West Indies professional players draft for the Colonial Medical Insurance Super50 Cup and the West Indies Four-Day Championship on Monday June 15, 2020 via a Zoom meeting.
The draft shall be conducted over two rounds and each franchise must pick a player in each round. Based on CWI’s draft structure, each franchise will contract a minimum of 15 players, 13 pre-selected and the two from the player pool during the live draft. The event will be monitored by CWI’s auditors KPMG to ensure that the process is carried out efficiently and smoothly.
CWI’s Cricket Operations Manager, Roland Holder said, “The draft, now in its seventh (7th) year, demonstrates that CWI remains committed to our professional cricket structure and system, even in these times of uncertainty from the COVID-19 pandemic.
Late last month, former West Indies Women’s physiotherapist, Marita Marshall was kind enough to speak with me concerning the physical aspect of the gentleman’s game and sports in general. The Barbadian—who is the owner of her own physiotherapy practice, Physiotherapy & Optimal Performance Services (POPS), and co-founder of The Health & Wellness Physios Inc—has seven years of clinical practice under her belt. In our hour-long Zoom call, she broke down who exactly physiotherapists are, touched on topics from T20 cricket to pink-ball cricket, the huge risks associated with fast-bowling in stark contrast to spin bowling, injuries, treatments, recoveries, etc. Buckle up.
When did you know you wanted to pursue a career in Physiotherapy?
Well, I wanted to study medicine initially and then I changed my mind from that. I knew a bit about physio from sports and I did some research into the requirements and started volunteer hours [after secondary school] at the hospital here in Barbados. After I did those volunteer hours, that was when I really decided that this was something I really wanted to do.
And your educational choices on your way to that dream?
I spent a year at UWI Cave Hill and then I transferred to [UWI] Mona in Jamaica where I did my undergraduate degree in Physical Therapy. I then returned home [to Barbados] and worked for two years and then I left for Scotland for a year to do my masters in sports medicine.
