Have to take warm-up games in England as seriously as possible: Roston Chase

NEW DELHI:

West Indies

all-rounder Roston Chase has said his team will be taking the two warm-up matches in Manchester ahead of the first Test on July 8 vs hosts

England

"as seriously as possible" to make up for the coronavirus-induced absence of game-time.


"Practising and training is different to match preparation. I think we have two warm-up games to go before the actual series. We have to take those two matches as seriously as possible because that is the only preparation outside of the training.

"We have been training hard. We have had to do extra work due to COVID. Hopefully, we can get a bit of match practice from these two games," said Chase.

The last international fixture that the Windies played was in March 2020 against Sri Lanka, while the last time the Caribbeans played a Test, it was against Afghanistan at the end of November 2019.

With Shimron Hetmeyer and Darren Bravo deciding not to join the tourist party due to the concerns related to coronavirus and their family's well-being, Chase could end up batting higher up the order than what he is used.

He, however, hasn't had any such talks with either captain Jason Holder or the head coach Phil Simmons.

"I haven't had a chat with the captain or the coach yet about that, so I can't say where I will be batting in the series, but wherever I bat, I am just looking to put some runs on the board."

In the last series against England in the Caribbean, which the Windies won 2-1, Chase had a good run with both bat and ball and is now looking forward to repeating the same in England.

"Once you do well in England, your stock as a cricketer goes up on the international scene. So yeah, looking forward to doing well in England to take my ranking in world

cricket

up.

"I thought I did well (against England at home) by letting the bowlers come to me. The England attack is a world-class attack, so you have to be patient, more patient. You can't really look to dominate the bowling attack. You just have to let them come to you and pick them off when they bowl to your strengths," he added.

The all-rounder is focussing on playing the ball as late as possible, something that is often crucial to the success of a batsman in the English conditions.

"As a batsman, the main focus for you is to try to play the moving ball as late as possible but still looking to get your weight into the ball. For scoring in England, you have to stay more side-on as a batsman."

On the issue of the saliva ban due to the coronavirus, Chase believes the bowler delivering the ball will have to take on more responsibility to shine it.

"I think that the guy who is bowling would have to take care of the ball himself. Probably after running in for a couple of overs, he will start getting some sweat. So I think that is the direction that we have to go in."