Playing Day-Night Tests will be difficult for Windies: Phil Simmons

Phil Simmons, the incumbent coach of the West Indies has stated that playing day-night Test cricket would be difficult for the West Indies players. Speaking to Cricbuzz, Simmons added that they might not have a choice with the ICC making it mandatory for teams to play night matches.

“It’s going to hard for us because we have not played enough day-night cricket down here to test the ball and to know what happens in the night”, Simmons told Cricbuzz during Barbados leg of the just concluded Tri-Nation series. “But we were told ICC wants everybody to try and play day-night cricket, so you don’t really have a choice.”

He continued: “Pakistan said we can have one in UAE, so I have to wait and see what happens, then judge. I didn’t see the one in Adelaide but the guys (Australian players) told me it was good from a crowd point of view. But a lot of players say they are a lot of things that need to be fixed. You have to have the right conditions, the wicket has to be green because the ball is going to be damaged too quickly, little things like that. So I hope everything is taken into consideration and the potential match is done well.”

“You watch around the Caribbean and there are not many batsmen who sweep or use their feet very well. I don’t think they use the depth of the crease while playing spin or even when playing fast bowling,” Simmons explained.

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“Those are the key areas I worked with some of the top performers in the first-class season – (areas) that we have to improve on ahead of this year if we want to make it at international level. The more of them I can work with in such camps, the better,” he concluded.