Simmons backs A-team tours
West Indies head coach Phil Simmons said that he is happy to see the prospect of two `A’ team matches between his side and New Zealand’s.
West Indies have been afforded the opportunity to play the two First-Class games while on tour for a Three-T20I and Two-Test series.
Following the T20I series, a few of the players will team up with the six Tests reserves to form the `A’ Team.
When asked about his views on the First-Class matches, Simmons, in a recent interview noted, “We’ve always spoken about that between the CEO [ Chief Executive Officer, Johnny Grave], the Director of Cricket [Jimmy Adams], we’ve always spoken about following on some of the other countries having A team tours coordinating with Test tours.”
However, Simmons suggested funding these sort of ventures are often out of the financial capabilities of Cricket West Indies.
“We are not full in pocket as some of the other teams that do it on a regular basis, this time we had the opportunity and we’ve taken that opportunity and it’s something that if you have the funds it’s something we would do nine out of 10 times,” he stated.
According to Grave, “It’s one of the things we learned from the England tour. It’s a fantastic opportunity for the reserves to come together and train with the first team, help prepare them and be there in the event we had any injury or illness that curtailed or ruled out any players… But once the Test matches started in England, there wasn’t a huge amount for those reserves to do other than continue to prepare the players and do some training while the Test match was ongoing.”
He noted, “I think to give them competitive cricket against New Zealand “A” is great and for some of those T20 players who have played so much white ball cricket for West Indies during the West Indies championship over the last couple of years…”