Springer happy with Windies A development

BRIDGETOWN, Barbados (CMC):

West Indies A team coach, Hendy Springer, has praised his side's maturity after their tour of Bangladesh finished in an anticlimax yesterday, with the final day of their four-day Test abandoned because of rain.

Springer told CMC Sports he had seen improvement in both the batting and bowling departments and was also impressed with how the players had applied themselves in unfamiliar conditions.

West Indies A played unbeaten to reach the final of the Tri-Nation Limited Overs series before losing in the final to South Africa A.

They also beat Bang-ladesh A in the opening four-day Test to clinch the two-match series 1-0.

"I think the guys did very well on this tour," Springer told CMC Sports in a telephone interview from Bangladesh.

"We played South Africa (who were) very strong opposition and were lucky enough to beat them twice and we beat Bangladesh twice as well. We only fell short in the final in a very closely fought game.

"I think the guys did pretty well. They gelled as a team at short notice basically and it was good that we could have a guy like (Darren) Bravo, who was outstanding in the tournament, scoring so many runs."

The 20-year-old Bravo enjoyed a rich vein in both the one-day and Test series and proved to be the mainstay of the visitors' batting. The elegant left-hander plundered 314 runs, including an unbeaten century, during the limited overs tournament and then stroked 102 and 37 in the first Test.

He was one of two batsmen on tour with centuries, as discarded Test opener Devon Smith hit 115 in the final of the Tri-Nation tournament.

Test left-hander Brendan Nash stroked an unbeaten 99 in the first innings of the second Test in what was also a rewarding series for him with the bat.

Impressed

Springer praised the effort of his batsmen, especially the way they coped with the Bangladeshi spinners.

"The batsman applied themselves but the pitches were very good as well," the former Barbados off-spinner said.

"A lot of spin was bowled and I was quite impressed with the way our guys went about playing the spin bowling and hence the reason we got the totals that we got."

West Indies A's hopes of forcing a victory on the final day of the last Test were scuppered when overnight rain resulted in a wet playing area and outfield and delayed the start of play.

The rain returned at midday (2 a.m. Barbados time), forcing umpires to call play off at 12:30 p.m.

Overnight, they were 109 for three in their second innings, an overall lead of 105.