Springer expects competitive 'A' series

KINGSTOWN, St Vincent, (CMC):

Rain has hampered the preparations of West Indies-A on the eve of the opening four-day 'Test' of two against Pakistan-A, starting today at the Arnos Vale Sports Complex.

Six players were brought in to beef up the Windies-A squad for the fixture, and they would have relished the opportunity of their final practice session to get themselves fully attuned to the conditions and their teammates.

Based on the performance of the home team in the preceding limited-over matches, Windies-A coach Hendy Springer still expects that the series will be competitive.

Good opposition

West Indies-A won a two-match Twenty20 series 1-0, with the first match ending in a tie, the same result as the first match of a three-match one-day series, which they lost 0-2.

"We are facing very, very good opposition because a number of their guys would have had international experience, and this is good for our cricket to pit our resources against such quality," he told the CMC Sport Wire.

"It has been a good experience for our guys. We have played about five matches against them, and to show the competitiveness of the series so far, we tied two of the limited-over matches."

One of Springer's major concerns about his side, however, has been the lack of "situational awareness" by the Windies-A batsmen in particular.

"The pitches have been very good, and guys have been getting off to good starts, but it is about them knowing that we are in good positions, and instead of pushing hard, just settling down and consolidate our position," he said. "This has been one of our downfalls. There is always need for a sensible approach in cricket. We have got the skills, we have got the fitness, since we have been lucky not to have any serious injuries."

With the new recruits on-board, Springer hopes that they use the opportunity to further their careers and their understanding of the game to position themselves for a higher calling, which may come at any time, particularly with the senior side, under Darren Sammy, currently touring Sri Lanka.

"This is an opportunity for these guys, and though it has not been a settled squad, it is important we get the possible side out to do the job and hopefully we would have had a good look at a number of the players," he said.

Squads:

WEST INDIES-A: David Bernard Jr (captain), Jason Holder (vice-captain), Brandon Bess, Kraigg Brathwaite, Odean Brown, Rajendra Chandrika, Jonathan Carter, Kirk Edwards, Assad Fudadin, Shannon Gabriel, Kieran Powell, Veerasammy Permaul, Denesh Ramdin

PAKISTAN-A: Faisal Iqbal (captain), Aamer Sajjad, Abid Ali, Anwar Ali, Hammad Azam, Junaid Khan, Khurram Manzoor, Mohammad Rameez, Naveed Yasin, Sarfraz Ahmed, Shan Masood, Tabish Khan, Umair Khan, Yasir Shah, Zulfiqar Babar