West Indies head coach Andre Coley has urged his players to draw on their resilience from their Gabba win against Australia earlier this year, following an initial big loss, as they prepare to face England in the second Test after a lackluster performance at Lord’s.
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The Caribbean side were outclassed in the opening Test of the ongoing series against England as they fell to a disappointing loss by an innings and 114 runs at Lord’s.
“They would’ve taken a lot of positives from that (Gabba Test). In terms of how we were able to bounce back, the process that we went through to be able to do that I believe is a lot more powerful (than winning),” Coley said ahead of the second Test, starting from Thursday.
“It reinforces the fact that in a series you could actually not start well but then compose yourself and come back in the series and be quite competitive, potentially set it up for a game-three decider. So there are real positives to be taken away, not only from the first Test here, but what we would’ve (faced in the) last six months,” he added.
The three-match series now moves to Trent Bridge for the second Test and Coley has identified one area his team must perform better in if they are to mix it with England in the ongoing series.
“We know the conditions will be testing: that’s why it’s called a Test match. We’re not playing at home. Our conditions are going to be slightly different, but we do have it within our ranks to be at our best and to compete with England.
“There were periods in the game where (England) actually had to show really good application and grit… Jayden Seales, Jason Holder; you had Alzarri Joseph, his pace was back up; Gudakesh Motie played a fantastic role in terms of helping the captain, Kraigg (Brathwaite) to be able to control and [took the] key wicket of the captain (Ben) Stokes.
“So yes, quite a few positives. I would love to see us with a lot more intensity that we’re known to show in the field. I thought in this Test match, we weren’t at our best in terms of imposing ourselves on the England batters. That is definitely something that we need to be better at for the next Test,” he said.
Coley remains optimistic despite the London defeat and expects his team to better handle English conditions in the next two matches.
“Having been here now about two weeks, having a bit of time to acclimatise to conditions and actually getting time in the middle… yes, the result was not what we would’ve wanted and planned for, but I do believe that there’s a lot to be had in terms of learning and takeaways,” he said.
“We admit that the side we have, it is young and emerging… but we are still very positive about how we are approaching the second Test. Everybody’s in good spirits. We’ve been catching up with the players one-on-one and this will really be the first time that we’ll be settled as a squad.
“There’s been quite a bit of activity on and off the field leading up to the first Test and it’s been a lot, I can imagine, for some of our players to have been able to absorb. So it’s a massive learning for everyone, players and staff, and we are still very positive as we head to Nottingham,” Coley added.
The West Indies currently sit in sixth place in the World Test Championship standings and badly need a pair of positive results from their final two matches in England if they are to keep in touch with the competition pacesetters.
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