© Reuters
West Indies Head Coach Phil Simmons
West
Indies coach Phil Simmons believes their third test win over England
can be the foundation for better things for Caribbean cricket, but warns
next month's tests against Australia represent a sterner examination of
his team.
Trinidadian Simmons was appointed just before the
three test series with England, which was drawn 1-1 after West Indies
enjoyed an entertaining win in just three days in Barbados.
"It
is a cause for optimism, you are talking about winning a test match
where we weren't fancied to do anything in the series," Simmons told
Reuters in a telephone interview on Wednesday.
"It gives them
good confidence that they were part of it. The biggest part of winning
that game is what the youngsters and the team take from that."
The
former Ireland coach, who played 26 tests for West Indies, clearly made
a swift impact on a team which was credited with showing a renewed
focus and discipline in the series.
"The key message was that
there is the ability there to play test cricket and do well at test
cricket and we have to start looking and making sure we know exactly
what we are doing and what direction we are going and all the players
are part of that," he said.
"I think application is a really big
thing and it was something that we had talked about. It is a big game, a
game of patience, like a chess game and everybody had to understand
what application meant -- and I think everyone came to the party as far
as that was concerned," added Simmons.
It was a youthful team which beat England at Kensington Oval.
The
opening batting pair of Kraigg Brathwaite and Shai Hope are 22 and
21-years-old respectively while all-rounder Jason Holder and key middle
order performer Jermaine Blackwood are both 23.
With other young
players emerging in the first class regional competition, there is a
rare sense of positivity about the future in Caribbean cricket, but
Simmons says having the raw talent isn't enough.
"The talent
becomes unimportant if you are not working. But if you have the talent
and you are hard working then you are going somewhere. I think the
talent is there with a lot of them, we just have to make sure that we
work hard with that talent," he said.
The bowling attack has
benefitted from having Curtley Ambrose, who took 405 wickets in 98 tests
before retiring in 2000, in his role as a consultant, with the former
paceman giving animated instruction to the bowlers before key sessions.
"He
has been very important. He is a giant in the game when it comes to
bowling and he has been huge in the dressing room with the bowlers and
with everyone in general. His role is very important for the team," said
Simmons.
West Indies have had false dawns throughout their near
two-decades of decline and it will be tough to maintain the momentum in
tests in Dominica and Jamaica against Australia next month.
"No
disrespect to England but it is going to be a bigger test, especially
for the batsmen. Their quality of bowling and the bowling lineup that
they possess is a better one than England have. You are going to be
tested more," said Simmons.
"That is a good thing because playing
the top teams early in your career teaches you what you need to be
successful at this level. If they do well, they know that they are up
there, if they don't do well against Australia then they know they have
things to work on."
What has often undone progress in the past
has been the frequent fall-outs between the West Indies players and
their board, the WICB.
Last year, after a dispute over contracts,
West Indies players went home midway through a tour of India prompting a
threat of legal action against the board.
Simmons says he has
asked his players to keep any problems they might have with the WICB out
of the dressing room when it comes to business time.
"The
players and the board have their issues, I try to make sure that those
issues don't come into my team when it is time to go and play cricket.
You try to get them to make sure that they have all their issues sorted
out before it's time to go to cricket.
"I am not involved in
that, it is not part of my job to be a mediator. I can just make sure
that when it comes to cricket that they are doing the right things as
players and the right things as a board for the team."
