Windies coach says T20 series win would be a confidence booster
Avictory for West Indies in the T20 series against Sri Lanka tomorrow will be just what the team needs to go into their next assignment with much-needed confidence, says head coach Phil Simmons.
The Caribbean side will be going up against the South Asian side here at the Pallekele International Cricket Stadium, just days after being whitewashed in the threematch ODI series.
Speaking ahead of the start of the two-match T20 series, Simmons said a victory in Wednesday’s and Friday’s games will be a boost for the squad.
“I think it will help us to gain confidence as a nation. West Indies cricket has always thrived on winning, and if we win the series it takes us into the next series in a confident mode, so that’s the way we have to look at it – take it series by series,” he said Tuesday.
“Preparation has been good. We had training up to yesterday and everyone looked sharp and ready to go.”
RUSSELL WAS RECALLED
West Indies will be strengthened in the series with the inclusion of allrounders Andre Russell and Dwayne Bravo, as well as Shimron Hetmyer, in the 14-man squad.
Russell was recalled after having not played for the side since being ruled out of the 50-over World Cup in June 2019.
Hetmyer had been left out of the ODI squad after failing a fitness test.
“He’s fit,” Simmons said of the lefthanded batsman. “He passed the test and he has been here looking good and batting well. It’s good to have him join back the squad, so we look forward to what he produces tomorrow.”
Oshane Thomas, who recently survived a car accident, is also on the team which is led by Keiron Pollard.
Wednesday’s game will be significant for the Windies skipper, as it will be his 500th T20.
Simmons described that as “an amazing feat for someone who has had two knee reconstructions and other injuries”.
“For him to still come back from those and get to 500 is enormous and something that he needs to be proud of,” the coach said.
Pollard has accumulated 9,966 runs in the format thus far, and another 35 will make him the second player to score 10,000 T20 runs, after Chris Gayle who has made 13,296.
West Indies and Sri Lanka have faced off only once in a bilateral series in the T20 format – a twomatch series in 2015 in Sri Lanka which ended in a 1-1 draw. And West Indies have not won any of the five T20 series they’ve played since the start of last year. They lost all four series played in 2019 and drew the recent T20 series at home against Ireland 1-1, and only won three of the 15 matches they played across those five series.