Netherlands tour beneficial to West Indies, says coach Simmons

WEST Indies coach Phil Simmons said their tour of The Netherlands is a beneficial one despite the Dutch side being considered minnows in international cricket.

West Indies will face The Netherlands in a three-match One Day International (ODI) series. Matches will be played on Tuesday, Thursday and June 4 at the VRA Cricket Ground in Amstelveen.

This is the first-ever ODI series between West Indies and The Netherlands.

The three matches form part of the International Cricket Council (ICC) ODI Super League, where West Indies and The Netherlands will have the opportunity to secure points to try and secure one of the top seven places, excluding hosts India, to gain automatic qualification for the 2023 ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup.

Simmons, speaking in a zoom media briefing on Thursday, said, “The first thing you have to realise it is cricket, it’s people (Netherlands) who have been playing cricket for a long time now. They have qualified for World Cups. The other part about it is that it’s for points that will lead to us qualifying for the next World Cup, so it does not matter who you have to play against. The 30 points are the important things and to do that and to win those points you have to play cricket properly, so you have to prepare properly.”

Each win will earn West Indies ten points.

Keeping the scoreboard ticking has been a problem for West Indies in the middle of their innings.

Simmons is hoping to see an improvement in that area.

“I think my idea of success on this tour is how we play between overs 11 and 40 and how we accumulate the runs, how we score our boundaries, everything that goes together to put on big scores will happen between 11 and 40, so on this tour that is going to be the highlight for me.”

This will be West Indies first 'white-ball' series without former captain Kieron Pollard. Pollard, who recently announced his retirement from international cricket, has been replaced as skipper by Nicholas Pooran.

Following the tour of The Netherlands, West Indies will travel to Pakistan for a three-match ODI series.