Simmons has faith in West Indies

The West Indies coach believes his side can mix it with Australia this summer

West Indies head coach Phil Simmons remains confident that his young side can perform well on Australian shores this summer.

The Caribbean side take on a Cricket Australia XI in a four-day game in Brisbane starting Wednesday, before they head south to Hobart for the first of three Commonwealth Bank Tests against Australia.

Simmons plans to put the West Indies through a rigorous training regime at the Bupa National Cricket Centre in Brisbane over the next few days and is hopeful his young charges will be able to quickly adapt to the conditions in Australia.

"Today was the first practice and the guys looked as good as you can look after a long flight," Simmons said on Sunday.

"We still have three days practice before the warm-up game and then three more days before the Test match, so I think it is about getting ourselves sharp enough going into the warm-up game and taking the warm-up game as serious as possible and making sure that during the warm-up game we do the things we want to do during the Test match."
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Simmons was a member of the West Indies side that defeated Australia 2-1 in the five-match Test series of the 1992-93 summer, but just four members of his current touring party have Test match experience down under.
Just how that quartet of Marlon Samuels, Kemar Roach, Jerome Taylor and Denesh Ramdin perform will be crucial to the West Indies chances against Australia, but Simmons says every member of his touring party will need to step up at different times.
"They are the ones we are banking on to give the knowledge to the younger players that haven’t been here, but I think everyone has to take ownership over the next week so they know what to do when we get into the Test matches," he said.

"I think the big thing is that we get accustomed to the wickets and get accustomed to the fact that the wickets are going to be good to bat on.
"The new ball is going to be a big thing and as long as we get accustomed to the wickets and batting on the wickets when it comes time to play the long innings we will be able to do it."
And while Simmons' focus is purely on getting his side ready for the first Test in Hobart, he admitted he was excited his side was playing in the Boxing Day Test in Melbourne for the first time since the summer of 2000-01.
"It is huge as it has been over a decade since we have been granted a chance to play a Boxing Day Test," Simmons said.
"From my time we looked for the day because it is a big day and a huge occasion.
"Not only in Melbourne but all over Australia and a lot of cricket teams look forward to when they have the chance."