Last Updated on 5 years by Charbel Coorey
West Indies coach Phil Simmons says both England & West Indies are under the same umbrella | England vs West Indies Test series | Can West Indies compete in England?
As international cricket resumes post the coronavirus pandemic in England next month, West Indies coach Phil Simmons feels that West Indies have an edge over the hosts as the matches are played behind closed doors.
The Test series between England and West Indies, which starts on July 8, marks the return of International cricket which has been suspended since March due to the coronavirus pandemic.
“I don’t know if it will increase our chances, because both teams are under the same umbrella – for want of a better word. The nice part for us is that 20,000 Englishmen raving for England, and that crowd support, it’s not there for them. So that in a way will help us, so it’s good from that point of view, ” said Simmons.
Simmons also believes that lack of quality cricket could also hurt England.
“England hasn’t come from a tour recently, and we’ve just been playing cricket at home. Because in a normal situation we would have been coming from camps and England would have been halfway through their season and the series would have been going on right now. So, I think that is a plus for us, because it evens out things a little bit, with the fact they haven’t been playing competitive cricket for a while also,” added Simmons.
Also read: International cricket likely to happen in Australia in August
The head coach of West Indies opinionated that the Men in Maroon will miss the services of three key players – Keemo Paul, Shimron Hetmyer and Darren Bravo, as they pulled out of the tour due to concerns surrounding the coronavirus.
“Unfortunately a few guys decided not to come but we are here with the best squad that we can have here. And from the way we’ve started our work, the guys have been putting in, I think we’ll be ready and looking to defend our trophy. We know what we’ll be missing. But in situations like this, we have to work hard with the guys who are here and make sure that what we’re doing is putting them in a position to fill those two shoes for the series. Hopefully whoever fills the shoes can go on and be as great as they want to be.” he concluded.
Written by Sarthak Karkhanis. Follow Sarthak on Twitter today.
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