West Indies coach Phil Simmons feels playing behind closed doors against England will favour the visiting side when international cricket resumes next month in a “bio-secure” environment in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Suspended since March due to the deadly virus, international cricket is set to be back when West Indies and England lock horns in a three-match Test series starting July 8 at Southampton.
“I don’t know if it will increase our chances, because both teams are under the same umbrella – for want of a better word,” Simmons said in a video conference from the team’s training base here.
“The nice part for us is that 20,000 Englishmen raving for England, and that crowd support, it’s not there for them. So that in a way will help us, so it’s good from that point of view.”
Besides the absence of hostile English fans, Simmons said lack of competitive cricket could also hurt the hosts in the series.
“…England hasn’t come from a tour recently, and we’ve just been playing cricket at home. Because in a normal situation we would have been coming from camps and England would have been halfway through their season and the series would have been going on right now.
“So, I think that is a plus for us, because it evens out things a little bit, with the fact they haven’t been playing competitive cricket for a while also,” he observed.
Having beaten England 2-1 in the Caribbean 18 months ago, a tied series would be enough for the West Indies to retain the Wisden Trophy.
But Simmons admitted that the West Indies would miss the services of Shimron Hetmyer, Darren Bravo and Keemo Paul in the series after the trio decided against travelling to UK for the tour amid the pandemic.
“Unfortunately a few guys decided not to come but we are here with the best squad that we can have here. And from the way we’ve started our work, the guys have been putting in, I think we’ll be ready and looking to defend our trophy.
“…we know what we’ll be missing. But in situations like this we have to work hard with the guys who are here and make sure that what we’re doing is putting them in a position to fill those two shoes for the series,” he said.
“Hopefully whoever fills the shoes can go on and be as great as they want to be.”
September IPL in Sri Lanka is viable option: Gavaskar
AFP, New Delhi
Batting great Sunil Gavaskar said the Indian Premier League (IPL) could be staged in Sri Lanka in September with Australia’s chances of hosting the Twenty20 World Cup in October looking bright.
The Twenty20 international showpiece is scheduled to take place from October 18 to November 19 but had been under threat because of the coronavirus pandemic.
However, Australia’s decision to allow crowds of up to 10,000 in sports stadiums from June has breathed life into the staging of the tournament, with the International Cricket Council set to make a decision next month.
“If the ICC believes that the World T20 can happen, then having the IPL looks difficult because it could only be held if the World T20 is postponed,” the former India captain told local television channel Aaj Tak.
“But after the announcement (of opening the stadiums for fans by Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison), the IPL in October looks difficult.”
Indian cricket chiefs are desperately trying to salvage the cash-rich IPL this year even if it means taking it overseas or playing in empty stands.
IPL chairman Brijesh Patel said the league could be moved out of India if the virus threat does not ease in the next two months.
The league has earmarked a possible September-October window for the event.
With the monsoon expected to bring heavy rains to India in September, staging a shortened version of the competition in Sri Lanka that month could be a viable option, Gavaskar said.
“In September, you can’t have the IPL in India due to monsoon,” said Gavaskar.
“But maybe (it can be held) in Sri Lanka from early September with teams playing each other once instead of double-headers. Maybe you can think of that,” said Gavaskar.
The United Arab Emirates and Sri Lankan cricket boards have already shown interest in hosting the tournament this year.
The world’s wealthiest Twenty20 tournament has twice been held outside India in years that it clashed with national elections.
South Africa hosted the second IPL in 2009, and the first half of the 2014 season took place in the UAE.
