‘Good to have all the senior guys back’ – Simmons

West Indies head coach Phil Simmons has said having more seniors in the T20 side compared to the Test squad is a good feeling as it “makes things easy” for him for the two upcoming T20Is against India in Lauderhill, Florida. As opposed to the inexperienced Test side that lost 2-0 to India, their T20 squad features Chris Gayle, Dwayne Bravo, Sunil Narine, Andre Russell and Kieron Pollard among other specialist T20 players. They will also play under the new captain Carlos Brathwaite after Darren Sammy was dropped from the side.

“It’s good to have all the senior guys back and they make things easy for me because it’s a case of them doing all the work and they know this format inside out,” Simmons said on Thursday in Lauderhill. “So it gives me a chance to just enjoy them freeing themselves out there.”

Simmons also said being the T20 champions helped the side’s confidence, comparing them with the 1980s’ Test side, which dominated the longer format for years.

“In this context, I think it’s a case where we are world champions and it’s something we have made our own, similar to back in the ’80s when we made Test cricket our own. We always had the team to beat in T20 cricket so from that point of view we’ve got a lot better and all the guys are loving playing it. But it’s a stepping-stone to one-day cricket too.”

Brathwaite has played only eight T20Is so far and played only the first of the four Tests against India, scoring 0 and an unbeaten 51. While he had recently said the T20 players were “mature enough” to handle a change in leadership, Simmons said the objective of the new captain and the entire side would be to build on the World T20 win in India.

“I think his (Brathwaite’s) main mindset is that we have to continue where Sammy left us and the good work that Sammy did in this position,” Simmons said. “I think that’s the mindset of all …

continue reading in source www.espncricinfo.com