T20 World Cup 2021 | We’ll continue to be aggressive, but shot-selection must be better, says Phil Simmons

10/25/2021

Ahead of West Indies’ second match of the T20 World Cup 2021 against South Africa on Tuesday, head coach Phil Simmons has stated that the team will persist with their aggressive brand of cricket. He expected his players should get better at shot selection, after their defeat to England on Saturday.

Defending champions West Indies suffered a six-wicket defeat to England on Saturday, October 23 in Dubai. Batting first, the star-studded batting line-up were bundled out for a paltry 55 in 14.2 overs. England eventually romped to a six-wicket win with 70 balls remaining.

A feature of West Indies' batting struggle was the poor shot selection, resulting in untimely dismissals in an innings in which only Chris Gayle scored in double digits.

Head coach Phil Simmons maintained that the team will stick to playing aggressively, but asked for an improvement in shot selection.

"For me, Saturday was just about bad shot selection," Simmons said on Sunday. "The bowling wasn't, as we would say, extraordinary. All the guys have played against these guys before, so I just put it down to bad shot selection. We need to improve that tenfold by the time we get to Tuesday."

"Well, the style in which we play our cricket has always been in the style in which we play our cricket," he added. "But we also got to assess the situation at the time and play according to the situation. So, there's enough experience in the team for that; any two batsmen in there at the same time would have that experience to assess the situation and play accordingly. We will continue to be in our aggressive state, but our shot-selection and assessment of the situation must be a lot better.”

Spinners played a leading role for both the teams at the Dubai International Stadium on Saturday. While Moeen Ali bowled 18 dot balls during his four-over spell of 2/17, Adil Rashid returned with scarcely believeable 2.2-0-2-4, which included the wickets of Kieron Pollard and Andre Russell. Later Akeal Hosein returned 2/24 from his four overs for the West Indies.

Simmons reckoned that his team did not misread the pitch, and that it was good to bat when the game started. He also reflected on Roston Chase's non-selection, who had got an unbeaten fifty in the warm-up match against Afghanistan.

"First of all, I don't think we misread the pitch," Simmons said. "Yes, spinners got some wickets, but as you go along, we've seen that.... the pitch was a good pitch at the start. You have to make the most of the first six-seven overs and you have to fight till you get to the latter part of the innings. I think when we assessed the pitch, we assessed the squad, we thought that the XI that we went into the game with was the right squad for that game.

"Yes, Chase got runs in the game before [54 not out in the warm-up against Afghanistan] but when we were in the ground, we assessed that was the right combination for Saturday."

Speaking on the upcoming match against the Proteas, Phil Simmons marked left-arm wrist-spinner Tabraiz Shamsi, who is currently the No. 1 T20I bowler, as a major challenge to his team.

"Yeah, we've been looking back at that [T20I series in the West Indies] and seeing how in the games so far here [in the UAE] how people have played and won but also about how batsmen are going to find a way to score off him and without him being such of a threat," Simmons added.

West Indies will face South Africa on Tuesday, October 26 in Dubai.