Absence of Broad, Anderson not a big advantage for West Indies, says coach Simmons

St John’s [Antigua], March 8 (ANI): West Indies head coach Phil Simmons has said that his side needs to put enough runs on the board to help the bowlers in the upcoming Test series against England.
West Indies and England will lock horns in three Tests, beginning later on Tuesday.
“I think the last time England were here, and we beat them, the opening pair was Kraigg and John Campbell. So let’s hope that’s a good omen for us, because they are back together and they gave the team some good starts. So that’s what we’ve been talking about, getting a good start and then making sure that the top four put things together and not leave it for the middle and lower order,” ESPNcricinfo quoted Simmons as saying.
“That’s been the aspect of the five-day camp that we had, addressing the fact that batsmen need to bat long, we need to make sure we give the bowlers something to work with. And I think that the camp went well, so I expect good things from them,” he added.
England have dropped Stuart Broad and James Anderson for the Test series, however Simmons says that this does not mean that his side can take the visitors lightly.
“You can call it an advantage but again, no Broad, no Anderson, we keep harping on that. But when you don’t have the experience, you have young fellas having to make their name and that is something that you have to guard against too. For me, you can’t be looking at that and saying well look, that’s a big advantage, because then you tend to get complacent and you tend to get found out early,” said Simmons.
“So we have not been looking at the fact that there’s no Broad and Anderson, we’ve been looking at who there is, and there’s still some quality bowlers in there, which we still have to bat against,” he added.
When asked about Shannon Gabriel, Simmons said: “He’s a lot further on than I thought he was. He bowled with some pace today, so we’ll see what happens over the next four or five days. This squad was selected for the first Test, so we’ll see where he’s at while he’s training with us and then we can make a decision on the second Test.” (ANI)