Jason Holder will be back to bowling in the four-day warm up game: Phil Simmons

Phil Simmons, the coach of the West Indies Cricket team assured that there is nothing to worry about captain Jason Holder’s fitness ahead of the Test series against England, as the all rounder took a curtailed part in the intra squad warm up match building up to the Test series.

The intra squad game took place between a team captained by the allrounder and a team captained by Kraigg Brathwaite. Although he did not bowl in the entire game, he fielded for a considerable amount of time, and batted only once in the game, getting a good ball straightaway from Raymon Reifer to be out leg before.

The former West Indies Cricketers told windiescricket.com, “Jason has had a slight niggle on his ankle and that is what has held him back from bowling, but that was the plan for this game. He will be back to bowling in the four-day game and should be bowling his full quota. As for the batting if you get one ball and you’re out, that’s all you can do.”

ALSO READ: West Indies warm-up game ends in a draw as Kraigg Braithwaite finally finds some form

Simmons also assured that wicketkeeper Shane Dowrich, who left the field following an injury to the side, is also fine. He said, “Shane is fine. I’ll need to see the doctor to see exactly what is wrong but he seems to be doing fine.”

Trinidadian fast bowler Shannon Gabriel, who was part of the reserves a few days back, is making a comeback after an ankle surgery and Simmons is impressed with the way he has bowled so far. He said, “He looks ready, that was evident here. When you see how he bowled in the first innings, then again yesterday and even more so this morning you could see he’s close to 100 percent. Now we want to get him up to 100 just before the Test match.”

Simmons also added that all the West Indies Cricketers, much like their English counterparts, have returned negative reports for COVID-19 in the latest round of tests. West Indies are scheduled to play a four-day warm-up match starting from Tuesday at the Emirates Stadium at Old Trafford, before they reach Southampton for the 1st Test from the 8th of July.