Windies' Smith to test Bermuda

Smith, a veteran of 31 Test matches and 32 one-day internationals for the Windies, has been included in a 14-man Sagicor West Indies High Performance Centre team that will face Bermuda in a 50 over affair in their opening tour match in Toronto on September 8.

The aggressive left-handed batsman blasted 62 runs off 88 balls on his Test debut against Ricky Ponting’s Australia in 2003 at the Bourda Ground in Guyana. But since then the 28-year-old Grenadian has been in and out of the West Indies’ first team.

Smith’s last appearance for the Windies was against India last September in a one-day international in Johannesburg, South Africa.

However, the seasoned player has shown signs he is hitting peak form and next month’s tour of Canada will provide Smith with another opportunity to regain a spot in the West Indies’ first team.

“I think the selectors feel that Devon has played well in recent times and want to keep him in their radar. They want to see how things go and what sort of form he is in. And that’s fine because I’m sure he’ll come in as an experienced head to a younger side,” commented Toby Radford, West Indies High Performance coach and former Middlesex and Sussex opening batsman.

Quality

“Devon is a top quality player who I taught a few years ago in England when he toured with the West Indies Under 19s and got lots of runs.”

Radford said the primary objective of next month’s tour of Canada would be to gauge the progress of his players who are nearing the completion of three months of rigorous training at the High Performance Centre in Barbados.

“I think this (tour) much is needed for us as staff to see how the players have progressed and also for the players themselves to see how they have really pushed on and give them a yardstick of where they are at,” he added.

“I think we have a very decent lineup. All of our players have played regional or West Indies Under 19 cricket, so they’ve all played at a good standard and all have potential.”

In addition to Smith, the West Indies High Performance team boasts in-form front line batsmen Devon Thomas (wicketkeeper), Kieran Powell and Ravendra Chandrika.

Trinidadian Shannon Gabriel is expected to spearhead a potentially explosive three-pronged pace attack that also includes Guyanese Brandon Bess.

The 22-year-old, who stands over six feet tall, made his Test debut for the West Indies earlier this year.

“He played against South Africa a couple of months ago which I think was an interesting first experience bowling against the likes of de Villiers and Kallis where you don’t have much leeway. If you are slightly off they punish you. I think it was a good learning curve,” Radford smiled.

Rather than focus on rivals Bermuda and Canada, Radford has urged his players to concentrate on perfecting their own game.

He added: “If you do your job well I don’t think it matters too much about the opposition. Everything we have done so far has been very much about our game – we haven’t talked about opposition.”

“We will get some footage of Bermuda and Canada and I’ll sit down with the other coaches and really pin-point what we believe are any flaws in batters or how we might score off certain types of bowlers.”