By Brandon Corlette
There has been no rain; there have been two days of full practice, and better surfaces are involved. That is the situation for the West Indies as they prepare to play India in the first of three One Day International matches (ODIs) from Friday, July 22, at the Queen’s Park Oval in Trinidad and Tobago.
West Indies are fresh from a disaster, having suffered a 3-0 whitewash against Bangladesh in the ODI Series played at the National Stadium at Providence, EBD in Guyana. With “good surfaces” at Queen’s Park, Head Coach Phil Simmons has said the West Indies would perform better in the batting department against a much stronger Indian team.
While Shimron Hetmyer was seen arriving with the ODI team in Trinidad and Tobago, he has not been selected in the ODI team. Simmons has taken the reserved approach and has not disclosed information about Hetmyer. However, he spoke about Keemo Paul and his niggle.
“Hetmyer is here with us. Since that we are dealing with the ODIs, I am going to stay away from Hetmyer, because he is not a part of the ODI squad. So…we deal with the ODIs, and when the T20s come, then we can have a discussion about Hetmyer. So, he is not a part of the ODI squad,” Simmons has said.
Asked about Keemo Paul, Simmons responded: “He has been doing really well. He has been going through some paces with the physio over the past few days, and he looked really well; so, we will make a decision on him (on Thursday), but he has progressed really well.”
While the surface in Guyana has been the proverbial talk of the town during that ODI whitewash that the West Indies suffered at the hands of Bangladesh, Simmons has said the surfaces in T&T are different.
“The first difference is that the surface looks as though some work has been put into it. It has been prepared; it looks good. The two wickets that we are going to play these three games on looked really good in the last couple days we are here, so we wait and see how they will play on Friday,” the West Indies Head Coach has posited.
The West Indies are aware that, as a team, they must improve in the batting department. Simmons has said: “Expect a better batting performance. We do not want to make any excuses, and in the last game we showed what we should have shown in the (first) two games. I am not hiding the fact they (in Guyana) were bad cricket wickets on the whole, you expect different. The wickets look good (in Trinidad). Yes, it is a better bowling opponent, but we expect a better batting performance from the squad.”
The Head Coach also noted that the travelling reserves would play only if a player from the original squad has been injured.
WEST INDIES FULL SQUAD: Nicholas Pooran (Captain), Shai Hope (Vice Captain), Shamarh Brooks, Keacy Carty, Jason Holder, Akeal Hosein, Alzarri Joseph, Brandon King, Kyle Mayers, Gudakesh Motie, Keemo Paul, Rovman Powell, Jayden Seales.
Reserves: Romario Shepherd and Hayden Walsh Jr.
India ODI Squad: Shikhar Dhawan (capt), Ruturaj Gaikwad, Shubman Gill, Deepak Hooda, Suryakumar Yadav, Shreyas Iyer, Ishan Kishan (wk), Sanju Samson (wk), Ravindra Jadeja (vice-capt), Shardul Thakur, Yuzvendra Chahal, Axar Patel, Avesh Khan, Prasidh Krishna, Mohammed Siraj, Arshdeep Singh. (GTimes)