Narine not ready for Test return

Narine not ready for Test return
By COLIN BENJAMIN Tuesday, September 1 2015

West Indies coach Phil Simmons has confirmed he is in a much clearer position over the status of high profile players Dwayne Bravo, Chris Gayle, Kieron Pollard, Sunil Narine, Lendl Simmons and Andre Russell, regarding their availability to play Test cricket and other formats for the Caribbean side going forward.

Simmons was giving an update on his talks with the aforementioned players after revealing exclusively to Newsday his plans to do so in May.

Since Simmons made that revelation, players such as Bravo and Simmons’ nephew Lendl have confirmed in the media that they don’t want to play Tests because of the pay structure in the new MOU/ CBA that was signed by the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) and West Indies Players Association (WIPA). Russell also stated he can’t play the longer format because of a persistent knee problem.

“I have had good discussions speaking with all the players. Yes, Bravo and Lendl said they don’t want to play Tests for reasons you mentioned, but I’m happy that they were honest about that,” said Simmons.

“My position is if you don’t want to play Test cricket for whatever reasons, we won’t select you. But if players openly state they are available for that format, I don’t really want them changing their minds when we select them (if there is a clash with a West Indies series).

“Speaking with Narine during the Caribbean Premier League (CPL), he still wants to be 100 percent confident about the consistency of his action before returning to Test cricket. He noted he is happy with the improvement (of) his action during CPL and is available for West Indies in the limited overs section at present.” Narine, with just six Tests under his belt, last wore white clothing for the West Indies two years ago vs New Zealand.

Referring to Russell he explained: “Russell has a longstanding knee problem which certainly limits his ability to play the longest format.

“No one has found a perfect solution for it, but he is trying to get it sorted and he did not give (the) impression that he is against playing longer format,” the 52-year-old highlighted.

Given that he and selectors won’t have the all-rounders Bravo and Russell available for Tests for the stated reasons, Simmons was asked if he subscribes to the theory that has been mooted that Jason Holder could take up that role, based on his recent batting exploits.

“Jason is certainly pushing to be that potential all-rounder in Tests based on his hundred and 80-plus scores in recent home Tests to go along with his wickets.

“However I’m not sure about him moving from number eight up to number six or seven in the batting order as yet. We will have to wait and see if that is an option when (the) team goes to Sri Lanka,” explained Simmons.

And on the duo of Gayle and Pollard? “Pollard wants to play cricket for the West Indies - that he made clear to me, but we haven’t gone into whether it’s Test specific.

Gayle noted once he recovers well from his back surgery he is also available for all formats.” Having spoken to those players during the CPL, Simmons, who played 26 Tests and 143 one-day internationals for the West Indies from 1988-1999, concluded by giving his thoughts on his first experience observing the T20 league.

“The tournament (CPL) is good, but not enough of young West Indian players came to the fore. Just the established stars and the overseas players and as coach I would have liked to see more from the young players. I hope that improves in next year’s competition.