ST JOHN’S, Antigua, CMC – New West Indies head coach Stuart Law has lamented his side’s effort in the field in Friday’s opening One-Day International against England.
Leading the Caribbean side for the first time since his appointment last month, the Australian watched as they succumbed by 45 runs at the Vivian Richards Cricket Stadium after failing to overhaul a challenging 297.
But while praising both the batting and bowling efforts, Law said the Windies had let themselves down in the field. Captain Eoin Morgan was let off twice during his top score of 107 while Jason Roy (13) was also put down early on.
“One thing we showed, we did show good fight. It didn’t all go our way in the field but I thought we stuck to our tasks,” Law noted.
“We probably lost it a bit in the last 10 overs – we lost a bit of focus in the field. A couple of very important catches that went down and it just goes to show that catches do win matches and they dropped two of the best players going around. You can’t afford to do that.”
Morgan received great support from opener Sam Billings who scored an effortless 52 and all-rounder Ben Stokes who stroked 55.
In reply, West Indies slumped to 39 for three before recovering through Jason Mohammed’s maiden one-day half-century of 72 and Jonathan Carter’s robust 52. However, with the run rate climbing, the hosts lost their last six wickets for 61 runs in the space of 54 balls to crumble quickly.
Law was quick to reiterate the value of the missed chances in the field while also ruing the fact neither Mohammed nor Carter went on to three figures.
“They all bowled reasonably ok. It wasn’t so much the bowling, it was more so the couple lapses in the field,” Law pointed out.
“And then with the bat, Jason Mohammed played beautifully for his 70 and Jonathan Carter again for his fifty so it would have been nice if one of those two had gone on to get a big score. But with the way the game was, we were always up against it once the run rate hit at around 12.”
West Indies take on England in the second ODI today at the same venue and Law said he was hoping his side could make the necessary adjustments.
“They are all really disappointed with the way they played so that means they really care and now it’s just a matter of getting them down to focus on what they need to improve on. We’ll get a good night’s sleep and hit the ground running again.”
