GROS ISLET, St Lucia (CMC):

Head coach Phil Simmons has conceded that the lack of substantive opening partnerships is becoming a worry, following West Indies’ chastening innings and 63-run defeat to South Africa here last weekend.

The home side produced two feeble batting performances – bowled out for 97 and 162 – with Roston Chase getting their only half-century of the game.

Captain Kraigg Brathwaite and the recalled Shai Hope out on 24 in the first innings while Brathwaite and Kieran Powell – a concussion substitute for Nkrumah Bonner – managed only 12 in the second innings.

Over their last 18 Test innings, West Indies have scraped only two half-century stands, with the highest being 66 in the second Test against Bangladesh last February.

“That is one of the things we’ve been trying to work on very desperately because if you watch back a lot of times we win Test matches against the top teams, we have good opening stands,” Simmons said.

“Against England the last time [in 2019], we had good opening stands between John Campbell and Kraigg. That has not been happening and we’re working very hard on that.

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Hint? JCampbell back into consideration.

Simmons concedes that the sun rises in the east and sets in the west. Is way they get this fella from? He is NOT a better coach than Ottis.

The truth is this: for most of the time we have been playing Test cricvket we have not had a stable opening pair.

There was Rae and Stollmeyer.

There was Greenich and Haynes.

A part from that we have had several good batsmen who opened, and some were good openers (think Freddo, Rowe, Kanhai, Desmond Lewis, the Bajan Campbell, and a few others). But I cannot remember another stable opening pair.

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Simmons is right. If your #3 is normally your best batsman, can it be right for him to be coming in so early so often to face hungry stilll fresh bowlers.
Would Viv be that master blaster without the cover of the Haynes/ Greenidge opening pair?
we have to find capable guys at #1 and #2 then we can step a bit forward.

Simmons indicating that appointment of Braithwaite as Captain was mistake..... Captain's position in the side itself as a player is not guaranteed....moral learn.... Simmons chooses ice-cream flavour better than Captain......

Simmonds and the WI will not be seeing any new help at the opening position soon, unless Lewis changes his stance and start playing the longer format matches and even then that might not work, because many of the white ball players do no have the patience to deal with the swinging red ball.

In reply to Larr Pullo

They should jettison this guy, he is a clown

Your test cricketers must prove themselves in the FC tournament to show that they can bat concentrate and bat for hours and score runs ,you can't pick a guy from T20 a d ODI and place him in test cricket and hope or expect him to perform as a test player ? And west indies keep making that mistake over and over again ana again and the results will continue to be the same .

Ah wonder if de coach trying to get de sack so he can get another lump sum payday?

He has been in charge for de better part of 2 years and wat he is saying has been evident from day 1. Wat has he done to change it in de time

In reply to CaribbeanCricket.com

Two names Lewis and Simmons, until we could find reputable young opening batsmen, they couldn't do any worst. I would pay good money to watch South Africa surround the bat any of those two openers with fielders, and to watch them all scatter to the boundary, after the first over, unlike the embarrassing and Un-West Indian-like fiasco we watched especially in the recently concluded 2nd test match.

We have no such issues in white ball cricket

Oh well.

In reply to Raggs

Yuh forget that Viv had to open the innings when men were running from Lillee and Thompson during the 75/76 tour and promptly racked up scores of 90 odd and 101?

86-1

As I said….no such issues in white ball cricket