MELBOURNE, Australia, CMC – Beleaguered West Indies will look to the two Twenty20 Internationals for redemption after being thoroughly whipped by Australia in their preceding one-day series.
West Indies plunged to a 125-run loss here on Friday in the final One-Day International to lose the five-match series 4-0, after the Sydney contest was abandoned due to rain.
David Williams, who will surrender his position of head coach at the end of this series, said he hoped a win in Hobart today and in Sydney on Tuesday, would lift the spirits of his side.
“We have a good record in T20 cricket against Australia. In the two matches we have played we have won both so we will look to keep that record intact,” said the Trinidadian who gives way to the newly appointed head coach Ottis Gibson next week.
“We have some players who can destroy any attack – Chris Gayle, Kieron Pollard and Dwayne Smith – so it should be good for us from that point of view.
“We just have to focus now. We are looking ahead to the T20s and look to rebuild from there.”
West Indies entered the series with an inexperienced squad, after injury robbed them of seven of their first choice players.
All-rounder Dwayne Bravo, batsmen Shiv Chanderpaul, Ramnaresh Sarwan and Adrian Barath, along with bowlers Jerome Taylor, Fidel Edwards and Sulieman Benn, all missed the tour with injury concerns.
The tourists have suffered heavy losses, a 113-run run defeat in Melbourne in the opening ODI before going under by eight wickets in Adelaide in the second match.
They faced a daunting target in Sydney before rain ended that contest prematurely and the fourth match ended in a 50-run loss.
Their attempts to avoid a whitewash were in vain as they produced a pathetic fielding display and an impotent batting performance in the final match.
“It didn’t happen for us again. We really expected a good performance from the guys. They were all pumped up and ready to go but it just didn’t materialize,” said Williams.
“We spoke about what we had to do, at length, but somehow things didn’t work out. To drop five catches in 50 overs is really disappointing.
“It was a tough series, a very tough series … we came up against a very good side and they got the better of us in all the matches. We didn’t get a good start with the bat and we struggled at the top. That exposed the middle order too early and we were always under pressure.”
West Indies face Australia in the first T20I at the Bellerive Oval, starting 3:35 am, Eastern Caribbean time.