As Phil Simmons and Lendl Simmons bid farewell to West Indies cricket, Keagan Simmons hopes to make his mark at the highest level.
Phil resigned as West Indies coach following the team’s embarrassing exit from the T20 World Cup in Australia, while Lendl announced his retirement from international cricket earlier in the year.
Meanwhile, another member of the family, 23-year-old Keagan has earned a retainer contract with the Trinidad and Tobago Red Force for the 2022-23 season and was also part of the West Indies Academy team that competed in the CG United Super50 Cup recently .
This year was just the beginning for young Simmons, who, like many athletes in Trinidad, had to deal with a two-year absence from the game.
The right-handed opener made his Red Force debut in the 2019-20 first-class season, fresh from the U-19 level, and even then, he had high expectations of himself after scoring 89 in the first innings.
However, the Covid-19 pandemic kept him sidelined for the better part of two years and after a season where he was, “still getting back into the game”, he is ready to push himself as he looks for consistency in his performances to which he hopes will lead to a call-up to the West Indies squad in the not-too-distant future.
Looking ahead to his performances in 2022, Keagan said he expected more from himself in both red-ball and white-ball cricket, but has identified some of the mistakes and is working to correct them.
“I think for sure in the four-day season, I was a little bit disappointed that I didn’t achieve my goals for the tournament, but I think it was definitely a learning experience and I’m still young to play at the starting-grade level,” Keagan told the Express. .
“There were some mistakes I made that I’m not used to making. I think now I have a better understanding of the things I need to do to prepare for next season,” he continued.
Keagan noted that, “playing with the Academy in the Super50, I was much more successful, but I’m still a bit disappointed. I still felt I could have been better at that level. I hold myself to a higher standard and expected better things from myself in the 50 overs.” But he added, ‘overall I think I’m very happy, this is the first post-Covid cricket season. I was still getting back into the game and I know what I need to work on moving forward.”
Simmons said of the upcoming season, “I have my different goals for the different tournaments I’m going to play.
“In terms of numbers, I’m focusing on the process. I know I have to be clear mentally about what I want to do. The mistakes I’ve made in the past are really overthinking and going outside of my game plan. So once I focus on that and stay sharp and ready to play, I know I can achieve the goals I’ve set in all the different competitions.”
He hopes his spells with the Red Force and the Academy will prove to be a quick launch pad for international cricket.
“My aim is really to perform as well as I can in the four-day season and within the tour that I will have with the West Indies Academy. I know that once I perform as well as I know I can in those tournaments, I will put my hand up for a future West Indies selection, either next year or within the next couple of years.”
