We have to improve in all aspects of our game

KINGSTON – West Indies skipper Shai Hope has admitted that his side was let down by shoddy fielding, bowling and batting in their 41-run defeat to Sri Lanka in the opening One Day International in Jamaica on Wednesday.

Keacy Carty dropped Pathum Nissanka off the very first ball of the match, with the opening batsman going on to score 79 off 103 balls, while also sharing a 136-run partnership for the second wicket with his captain Kusal Mendis, that helped the visitors post a formidable 303 for seven in their 50 overs.

With the ball, Gudakesh Motie went at 10 runs an over, while pacers Alzarri Joseph and Shamar Joseph were mostly ineffective and inconsistent.

In their run chase, Hope was the only batter to score a half-century, with several other batsmen getting starts but failing to carry on, as the Windies were bowled out for 262 in 49.2 overs.

Speaking after the match, Hope voiced his displeasure with the team’s all-around performance.

“In all three areas of the game, we could have been a lot stronger, especially in the fielding department.

“Our bowlers probably could have bowled a lot tighter lines, especially to start the innings. We know the Sri Lankan batters tend to prey on that width that we tend to give them, so we have to tighten up our lines for the next game, and then obviously in the field we gave a chance first ball of the game, and we know when you give great players the opportunity to go again you’re going to put yourself on the backfoot every single time when you’re playing catch up,” Hope said.

“And then with the bat, there were certain areas that we could have been a lot more clinical. The openers got off to a great start once again and then we kept finding ways to get out. We just have to take more responsibility as batters, take the game as deep as we can, find ways to win games from any position. So, all in all, I just feel that we need to tighten up in all three areas.”

The West Indies are aiming to win five straight ODI home series for the first time since 1990.

Hope said for that to happen, they needed to learn quickly from the opening defeat and focus on winning the final two games of the series.

“We need to put it away; we can’t change anything that’s happened. What’s gone is gone, the past is the past.

“We just need to look ahead to ensure that all the learnings that we gathered from this particular encounter, we have to turn things around, and as fast as we can learn; especially with the conditions and the way how they go about bowling in different phases and how the batters tend to play against our bowlers, we have to keep talking, keep communicating and ensure we have all the right remedies to come out victorious next game and then make it 2-1 at the end of our series,” Hope said.

CMC