West Indies attack to target England’s young batsmen
Coach Simmons says touring side will be ‘up for the fight’ Teams to show unity with Black Lives Matter movement
The West Indies pace attack will target England’s young batting line-up as they look to make history by winning their first series here for 32 years.
West Indies believe they have brought to England their strongest pace combination since the glory years of the 1980s and early 1990s. They are the holders of the Wisden Trophy after winning the last series 2-1 and believe they have a good chance of repeating the feat of Viv Richards’s team, who won a six-test series 4-0 in England in 1988.
England are rebuilding their batting line-up, with Rory Burns, Dom Sibley, Zak Crawley and Ollie Pope potentially taking four places in the top six. Burns is the most experienced with 15 caps, but has not played competitively since injuring his ankle in December. He survived a peppering from Australia last summer, but for Sibley, Crawley and Pope, this attack will be the quickest they have faced.
“Having young players in their team can be a plus for us,” said Phil Simmons, the West Indies coach. “A couple of them have an idea of what it is like at this level, but it is a hard thing coming into Test cricket – even after two or three games it is still difficult. We are going to try and put as much pressure on the younger players as we can.
“We’ve beaten England at home, and want to continue that trend. But we also want our own little piece of history. The guys are well and truly up for the fight here.”
West Indies will step up their preparations today, with the start of a three-day inter-squad match after two weeks of training in small groups while quarantining at Emirates Old Trafford. Simmons is confident Shannon Gabriel is returning to fitness, bolstering his attack.
Simmons revealed that West Indies would hold talks with England this week about showing solidarity with the Black Lives Matter movement and revealed his own experience of racism playing league cricket in the North East.
“We definitely have plans to show our unity and our backing for it. The chats with our English counterparts will have happened by the end of the week to see what we can do together, but we are definitely thinking about what we can do to show our solidarity for the moment,” he said.
“I never really faced racism at county level, but encountered quite a bit up in the leagues and I know it is not a nice thing to face, especially in the leagues, where you’re often by yourself. It affected my wife when I was up there.”