Lauderhill (Florida) August 8 : After losing the fifth and final T20I to India by 88 runs, West Indies head coach Phil Simmons stated that consistency in batsmanship and understanding of circumstances in the game is required for his batters in the lead up to of the Men’s T20 World Cup in Australia in October and November.In the T20Is in a back-to-back series in Florida on Sunday and Saturday, West Indies batting never seemed to be in the position of the chasing scores of 192 and 189 , respectively, and were then smacked out for 100 and 132 in the subsequent T20Is losing the series 4-1.
“I believe the most important conclusion is that we have given away our wickets a bit too cheaply.If we go on to bat (deep) and lose wickets, we’ll be right up there with the average run rate but we are losing wickets, and that’s the principal lesson we’ve had to draw from this game.
The most important thing is that we must bat in an order,” said Simmons in the post-match press conference.
Simmons added more details on what he would like to observe from West Indies batting in T20Is in the future.”We have to be in a position to bat in the six-over format (of the powerplay) and understand the way we bat in that.We must stop losing wickets, and once we’re no longer losing wickets we’ll be able to score huge scores.”
“We have players that we have – Hetty (Hetmyer) proved he is back to his best We have Rovman (Powell) and We have (Nicholas) Pooran, who has been a bit inconsistent as we progressed in the series, however, no one has been consistently consistent throughout the entire series.That is what we require now to be consistent and understand the context of the game, and understanding the way we play it.”
Simmons also admitted the fact that West Indies are yet to decide on their squad for the men’s T20 World Cup.Before the announcement of their World Cup squad, where they will be seated in round one with Zimbabwe, Scotland and Ireland in Group B, West Indies have three T20Is against New Zealand in Jamaica, beginning on August 11.
“It’s difficult.But I think we’ll be able to play three more games (against New Zealand).
Then we’ll take a seat and make decisions about who is a good fit for the way we plan to play.I think that the three games will be crucial for a number of players, as well as for players who are resting.However, in general, after that , we’ll have to decide.”
Simmons left the room by stating that West Indies will have to put in collective effort with ball and bat in order to compete with the bigger teams in T20I cricket.”It’s always tough facing India.It’s the most successful T20 team in the world – man for human.We proved in glimpses that we’re capable of playing with the best – sometimes with the ball and other times with bat.”
“But it is likely that we never put all of it together.That’s the lesson we’re going to learn from this.We must bring everything together in order to beat the best teams.”
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