BRIDGETOWN, Barbados, CMC – West Indies captain Jason Holder is concerned by his batting group’s lack of consistency and failure to execute their plans so far in the Tri-Nations Series.
The regional side’s batsmen struggled on a difficult surface during the first leg in Guyana and though the second leg at Warner Park in St Kitts proved more batting-friendly, the Windies still failed to fire.
“I thought the conditions in Guyana were very difficult for batting. If you watched the whole leg there, teams struggled to get 200 runs,” Holder said.
“Having said that, we moved to St Kitts which was a bit more batting friendly … and we didn’t quite capitalize [on Wednesday against South Africa]. I thought we did a reasonable job in the last game [against Australia].
“We asked one of our top batsmen to bat as deep as possible into the innings but we haven’t been able to get that. I thought Marlon Samuels did an exceptional job in the last game [against South Africa] trying to do that but unfortunately it didn’t quite get us over the line.”
West Indies overhauled South Africa’s 188 all out in the opening game of the tournament but were bundled out in their next game by the Aussies for a paltry 116.
They seemed to be finding their touches at Warner Park when they chased down Australia’s 265 to win by four wickets but the inconsistency returned to haunt them in their following game as they crashed to 204 all out in pursuit of South Africa’s 343.
With West Indies facing must-win scenarios in their last two games at Kensington Oval here to guarantee themselves a place in the final, Holder said partnerships would be key to their success.
“Going forward I think we need to build a bit bigger partnership up front,” he pointed out.
“We asked for a hundred-run partnership and then we split up two 50-run partnerships, to give ourselves a minimal total of 250. But we haven’t been able to get that 100-run partnership as yet and we’ve been able to get some 50-run partnerships but still not consistent enough.”
He added: “It boils down to teams being consistent on these tracks. These are not easy tracks to go in and bat on per se. I find they are very, very slow. I think Guyana was very difficult. Even the game against Australia [at Warner Park] it was quite difficult to just come in and get going with a softer ball and the dimensions of the ground.
“We need to find a way to build [the innings] at the top. I think once we set it up quite well with our top order, I think it becomes a little easier for the lower order to give themselves time to launch and get up to 280, 290 which I think is a winnable total on these types of pitches.”
Australia and South Africa clash tomorrow here before West Indies take on Australia on Tuesday and clash with South Africa next Friday.
The final is carded for next Sunday.
First of all, Taylor should never be played in one day matches. He keeps bowling short almost every ball which gave the batsmen time to hit same for sixes. I think the captain Holder, is not as efficient as we all think. He never spoke to Taylor to pitch up the balls unlike the SA captain keeps speaking to his bowlers all the time although they were bowling well. Bravo and Russell should have been selected which would have made a lot of difference in the WI side.
Listen to yourself Mr Captain,you have not done anything yourself so talk for talk sake dont win game,lead from the front.