[www.inewsguyana.com] – West Indies Coach Ottis Gibson has blamed second-string players for his sides poor results in recent times and accused them of not making use of the opportunities given to them.
West Indies, who are currently hit with an injury bug with the loss of seven players, lost to New Zealand by 58 runs under the Duckworth-Lewis method in the fourth One Day International (ODI) on Saturday.
The defeat means that West Indies, after leading the ODIs 1-0, have slipped to 2-1 with the final game scheduled for Tuesday Caribbean time.
According to the West Indies Head Coach Gibson, “We’re missing around six players now, Chris Gayle, Keiron Pollard, [Darren] Bravo, Marlon Samuels, Darren Sammy, Ravi [Rampaul], Kemar Roach”.
“Basically, players are getting an opportunity that they wouldn’t get if the above players were playing. And you have to say that these players are not taking the opportunities given to them.”
Two of West Indies’ top three were run out in the chase of 286, and the team never sufficiently recovered in Saturday’s match.
Both those batsmen who were run out were replacements – Chadwick Walton and Kirk Edwards – brought in for injured players. According to Gibson, the fielding was not up to par.
“The way we fielded in the whole innings, particularly towards the end, New Zealand got 25, 30 runs too many. It wasn’t a 280 pitch,” said Gibson.
As it relates to Sammy, the Barbadian said that they are still waiting for the results of the tests done but he is still limping around a bit.
