West Indies form is on sticky wicket again

The West Indies aim to level their three-match series against England with an improved performance at Trent Bridge.

West Indies coach Andre Coley has identified one area his team must perform better if they want to win against England in the second Test of their ongoing ICC World Test Championship series in Nottingham, which started on Thursday.

Windies were outclassed in the opening Test, battered by an innings and 114 runs at Lord’s in what was a fitting farewell to champion England seamer James Anderson.

Coley knows his team must perform better in all aspects of their game, starting with their fielding. “I would love to see us with a lot more intensity that we’re known to show in the field,” Coley said before the game. “I thought in this (Lord’s) 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.”

The West Indies are in sixth place in the World Test Championship standings and badly need positive results from their final two matches in England to keep in touch with the competition pacesetters.

Coley said spirits remain high within the playing group despite the loss in London and he expects his side to be able to cope better with English conditions during 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