By Clifton Ross 

PHIL Simmons, the West Indies head coach, wants to finish what has been a tough, if not indifferent 2020 for all, with a series win against the Kiwis, citing his team’s balance as the possible X-factor behind their quest for success.
Simmons explained to the media during yesterday afternoon’s virtual briefing that the players were preparing to endure a challenging T20 and Test series against the Kiwis, but he believes that they were up to the task.

“The balance is always good, you want your senior players to perform but you always have that case where there is a youngster or two that you would push in your squad. We have been looking since the India series to see who are the senior players you want and, looking at the CPL we have seen some young players who want to put their names in for the future”.

Windies’ closest taste of T20 success on Kiwi soil was when Chris Gayle led them to a 1-1 series draw. However, Simmons was firm that his boys could gel competitive, given their familiarity with each other and the form players will bring from the CPL and ongoing the IPL.

One big blow came ahead of the series when veteran all-rounder Dwayne Bravo picked up another injury, ruling him out of the New Zealand series and was later replaced by Guyanese Romario Shepherd.

Speaking on Bravo’s future, the ex-Windies batsman-turned-coach said they will be closely monitoring Bravo’s progress. He stated that the all-rounder has some time to get fit but his recent string of injuries are concerning, due to those injuries coming in the CPL and IPL.

Looking to a brighter 2021 with this bio-secure tour of New Zealand being Windies’ last assignment on their calendar of activities for the year 2020, Simmons said having safe fun with the momentum geared towards winning both series, especially the elusive T20; was the message passed in the dressing room.

“The message we are trying to give each other is we thank God we are safe and we have been given a chance to play cricket. We want to win and play hard and enjoy what we’re doing and if we leave here winning it would be even better, because some other players and countries don’t have this chance,” Simmons concluded.