Photo Credit: Cricket West Indies
West Indies will start their bid towards the 2023 World Cup tournament when they play the first One-Day International against Bangladesh on Wednesday at the Sher-e-Bangla Stadium. Head Coach Phil Simmons indicated that he is confident of a good series from his players as well as leadership from new captain Jason Mohammed.
This upcoming series will form part of the International Cricket Council’s World Cup Super League, which will form part of qualification for the marquee global event, to be played in India.
“It is mighty important [to get a good start] because you have to catch up in the series. We don’t want to get into the playoffs anymore. To catch up in the series is going to be really hard, so we need to start well,” Simmons told CWI Media.
This three-match rubber will be the first contests for either side in the ICC Super League. The positions of the participating teams finish in the league will determine who qualifies directly for the next World Cup — the top seven teams and hosts India would be certain participants — while the lower ranked teams would be forced to book their spots via the qualification tournament.
The Head Coach also spoke highly of skipper Jason Mohammed, who he expects to bring his experience and leadership skills to the job.
“He has a very good cricket brain and has been captain of a few age-group and representative teams over the years. He has been captain of Trinidad and Tobago before and he has that pedigree and that ability as we have seen before. I’m expecting him to lead from the front and do a good job,” Simmons said.
Cricket West Indies (CWI) governs cricket across the West Indies, a confederation of Caribbean countries. Originally established as the West Indies Cricket Board of Control in the 1920s, it became the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) in 1996 and was rebranded as Cricket West Indies in May 2017 as part of a restructuring effort.
