Reifer warns Windies against complacency

West Indies have been warned not to become complacent after their commanding victory over Bangladesh, with assistant coach Floyd Reifer insisting the regional side must maintain its focus heading into the second Test, which gets underway in Sylhet on Wednesday night Barbados time.

The regional side clinched a dominant eight-wicket victory in the opening Test over the weekend, but according to Reifer, they cannot afford to take Bangladesh lightly.

West Indies assistant coach Floyd Reifer (Photo by: Cricinfo)

“On face value, the wicket looks completely different to the one that we’re seeing here now. It’s important that we be consistent and repeat performances.

“Yes, we played well in Dhaka, but it’s important that we come here and play well again. This next game starts from zero and you have a first innings and a second innings in the game,” Reifer said.

According to the batting coach, West Indies still have to go through all the processes that they followed in the opening innings, including how they started, built the innings and assessed key moments of the game. 

He was, however, pleased with the team’s batting during the opening Test.

“It was brilliant, coming to Bangladesh and playing like that where from history, the pitch turns a lot. I’m very pleased with how the guys batted against the spin.

“We were confident in our defence, rotated the strike very well and as you saw in the second innings, we took our boundary options chasing down that 172 runs,” Reifer added.

Like head coach Daren Sammy, Reifer believes the team’s pre-series build-up and in particular the camp in India, was instrumental in West Indies making a strong start to the two-Test series.

“It is the preparation that we had coming into that game. What was really pleasing was to see that the guys really executed the things that we were practising over the last year. Then we had two weeks in Chennai, where we did a lot of work in terms of batting against spin, rotation of strike and boundary options.

“The most pleasing thing to me was the way we chased down the victory total and the confidence that we showed. It showed that we are really an improved group of batters versus spin bowling,” Reifer explained.

The former West Indies top-order batsman is also impressed with West Indies opening pair of John Campbell and Brandon King, who have so far put together six 50-plus-run opening partnerships and three century opening stands. 

“Those guys, they know each other’s game and that’s important [because] the synergy is good between them. Both of them are very attacking players and are solid in defence as well, so they complement each other.

“The conversations that they have at the crease are great as well. So all that goes into building a partnership, but the main thing is that the synergy is good between them. When somebody is having a bit of trouble at one end, then the other person will take more strike. It is a good partnership with them on the field and off,” Reifer said.

(KH)