HARARE, Dec 9: West Indies believe the lack of Tests on their tour of Zimbabwe will count against them when they move on to South Africa to play three Tests.

“We will just have to rely on our lengthy previous experience,” acting coach Henderson Springer told reporters after Sunday’s last scheduled match of a one-day series which West Indies won 3-1 was washed out.

“The lack of Test match opportunity in Zimbabwe means we were not able to make proper preparations. So our past experience in this form of the game will just have to suffice,” Springer added.

Zimbabwe were excluded from Test cricket by the International Cricket Council three years ago after being embarrassed by defeats of an innings plus more than 200 runs by both Sri Lanka and New Zealand.

Since then Zimbabwe have been confined to 50-overs matches. There were problems caused by a strike of established players over selection disputes, pay, bonuses and conditions, which resulted in many of them departing the country or quitting the game. Two have since returned – wicket-keeper Tatenda Taibu and spin bowler Ray Price.

Dwayne Bravo said he was happy with his team’s overall performance, which gave some benefit to the players.

“We have certainly been helped by Zimbabwe to get ready for South Africa,” he said.—AFP