West Indies gearing up for upcoming test series against Bangladesh

Assistant coach Floyd Reifer believes West Indies have so far enjoyed a solid build-up to their upcoming two-Test series against Bangladesh, which bowls off on October 28.

The regional side’s preparations will step up a gear when they oppose a Bangladesh Cricket Board XI at the Basundhara Sports City Ground, beginning on Thursday night Barbados time.

The game was preceded by a two-week camp in Chennai, India, which Reifer has described as very successful.

“You know, when we first got there, we met all the other coaches and the amount of resources that were there for us was great in terms of pitches and everything.

“Obviously, we worked on some technical stuff, a lot of rotation of strike in terms of batting spin and scoring options. So I would say that each of the guys every day batted literally over two hours, working on different aspects of the game,” Reifer revealed, while also rating the camp as 10 out of 10.

Veteran pacer Kemar Roach is six wickets away from becoming the West Indies’ fourth-highest Test wicket-taker. (CWI Media)

The bowling coach says his players were also very receptive to the information and experiences arising from the Chennai camp, and he says this is a boost, given the conditions in Bangladesh are expected to be similar.

“I think that on this trip to Bangladesh, our guys are ready. It doesn’t matter what type of spin they throw at us; I think we’re ready to handle it. So it’s just a matter now of transferring what we did in the camp and what we were doing months and months before, into actual reality in the game under pressure.

“The seamers were a bit short in terms of bowling loads, so it is important for those seamers to get their loads in. In terms of our batters, it’s another opportunity to bat for long periods. A lot of them have been coming from white ball cricket, so it’s important that we make the transition back to red ball cricket,” he said.

According to Reifer, red-ball cricket is about doing the right things for long periods of time, including batting through different phases of the game, knowing when you’re in control and staying in control and this is what they are looking to achieve as a team.

(KH)