Phil Simmons has emphasised that celebrations over the historic first Test win will be short-lived, with West Indies already focussed on producing another high quality performance in the second Test in order to escape the inconsistency which has plagued them in the past.
An under-strength West Indies pulled off an historic final day run chase on Sunday in Chattogram, overhauling an improbable 395 to upset Bangladesh by three wickets and take a 1-0 lead in the two-Test series.
And with the second Test bowling off Thursday at the Shere Bangla National Stadium here, head coach Simmons said there would be little time to savour the recent accomplishment.
“My emotions will die again after we have a little bit of a celebration because I believe we have to celebrate every win, whether you’re on top of the table or the bottom,” he pointed out.
“My emotions will go away [Monday morning] and we will start thinking about the second Test because this series is not over yet.
“We have five days to play and one of the things that we talked about earlier on is making sure we get to the fifth day and we got to the fifth day and we had a chance [in this Test].
“So we’re looking at getting to the fifth day in the next Test with a chance of winning that Test match, so we’re looking forward to that.”
Simmons, in his second stint with the West Indies following his appointment in 2019, said too many times in the past, the Caribbean side had managed significant wins only to follow up with sub-par performances.
The discussions following Sunday’s victory, Simmons said, surrounded finding a level of consistency.
“That’s what we’re searching for right now because I’m tired of these one wins here, one win there,” the Trinidadian told reporters on Monday.
“We need to continue with the way we have prepared, we need to improve on some things and continue with that intensity in the way we have prepared and make sure we don’t go backwards again.
“As I said, I’m tired of winning one game and then for the next three for four Test matches we’re struggling. We’re trying very hard to put things in place so we don’t go in that direction.”
West Indies watched as Bangladesh piled up 430 in their first innings in Chattogram, and then conceded a 171-run lead after being dismissed 259 in reply.
The Caribbean side bowled well to restrict Bangladesh to 223 for eight declared, before producing an excellent batting performance in their second innings.
Simmons said despite the result, there were improvements to be made in every department.
“Every time you win it’s more important that you look at ways to improve and that’s the way we’re going to look at it,” he explained.
“Yes we’ve done things well but how do you improve on that because the one thing you know is that when a team or person loses, they’re going to try find a way to improve and get better so we as winners have to do the same.
“We have to make sure that we improve in all aspects because we want that 100 per cent in every aspect. We still can do better with the ball, we still can limit them – instead of 400 we can limit them to 300 and something.
“So there is more than one thing to improve on and that’s what we’re going to be focussing on – how do we improve on the performance in Chattogram.”