Windies team manager Richie Richardson has toasted Phil Simmons’ return and says the drama surrounding their reinstated mentor is finally behind them ahead of the first Test against Australia in Hobart. “You’ve got to believe you can get the better of them, and if you do that then you start to gain respect, and you will find yourself at the same level with them, probably even past them”.
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Australia are now gearing up to face the West Indies for three Test matches which will be played in Hobart, Melbourne and Sydney between 10th December and 7th January.
Following Shaun Marsh’s dismissal for 49 to make it 6-176, the match reached a thrilling early climax during the night session of day three.
The green pitch, however was a boost for the bowlers who had to endure flat tracks in the first two Test matches in Brisbane and Perth.
“I was really pleased with Nev’s performance in this game under pressure with the tail, and that’s what you expect from a keeper who’s taking over from a couple of the greats of the game”.
“End of the day, we’ll sit down as a selection group tomorrow [Monday], get that sorted”.
However, Coulter-Nile only recently started bowling due to a shoulder injury.
The inexperienced tourists gave no grounds for optimism about the upcoming three-Test series, even though the CA XI featured six players new to first-class cricket.
Australia’s pace depth will be tested by Starc’s injury, which follows Mitchell Johnson’s retirement and another serious back injury for Pat Cummins.
“It would have been good if he had been playing Shield cricket the whole season and taken 40 wickets”.
Steve Smith has defended the odd decision to send Mitchell Starc out to bat with a broken foot when only two runs were required for victory and there were two other fit batsmen ready to go.
“We’ve had our eye on him for a long time and we’ve been very pleased with the way he’s gone when he has played”.
“Once Mitchell Starc went down everyone’s mind turned straight to Nathan Coulter-Nile”. “There does need to be a little bit of tweaking, but the actual concept is excellent”, he said.
Andrew Fekete was picked for the postponed tour of Bangladesh but recently dropped by Tasmania, a pointer to his current form struggles.
Marsh was happy with the display of the bowlers, who, according to him made the most out of a green top at the Adelaide Oval.
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“Hopefully all the bowlers from the Adelaide Test recover well over the next few days, but we are mindful all our fast bowlers have had a heavy workload”, Marsh said.
