ST GEORGE’S, Grenada, CMC – A disappointed West Indies captain Kieron Pollard yesterday admonished his batting group to take a critical “look at themselves”, and hinted at changes following the 3-2 series defeat to South Africa here yesterday.
Tasked with chasing 169 for victory at the Grenada National Stadium in the decisive fifth Twenty20 International, West Indies collapsed to 143 for nine to suffer a 25-run defeat.
For the home side, it was the third time in the series they had failed to chase a total of 160-odd, and Pollard said the effort from the batsmen had not been good enough.
“I thought we set up the game pretty well. At the 14-over mark we needed [66 from 36] deliveries with guys in the shed, more often or not you win games like that – on pitches like this knowing that one of their main bowlers (Anrich) Nortje didn’t play and he has been fantastic for them,” Pollard said afterwards.
“That’s the disappointing factor that guys didn’t take the opportunity this time to show that we learned from what transpired throughout the entire series.
“We’ll have some introspection to do; guys need to look at themselves and what they have to offer for us, and this series was a good eye-opener to show that cricket does not play on paper.”
Opener Evin Lewis was the standout batsman for West Indies, top-scoring with 52 on Saturday to post his second half-century of the series and end with 178 runs at an average of 35.
However, no other batsman passed 100 runs with Pollard managing 66 from four innings, vice-captain Nicholas Pooran getting 71 runs also from four outings and Lendl Simmons, 72 from three innings.
Veteran Chris Gayle once again struggled, scoring 56 runs from four innings, and with meagre returns of 29 runs from three innings in the previous series against Sri Lanka last March, his form will now fall squarely under the spotlight.
Pollard said while the bowlers had excelled, the batting group were still repeating mistakes which were ultimately leading to defeats.
“The young bowlers – (Obed) McCoy bowling well throughout the entire series and showing that type of consistency [was a positive],” Pollard pointed out.
“(Kevin) Sinclair in the couple games that he played, Bravs (Dwayne Bravo) coming time and time again in all five games, I think was fantastic.
“The disappointing factor was our batting unit for two series in a row, we weren’t able to look like we’ve learnt much from what has transpired.
“It is what it is. It’s good we can have these kinds of outings and hopefully we can regroup because in about five or six days time we have the Australians in the Caribbean.”
The five-match series is one of three which West Indies are scheduled to play in coming weeks, as they beef up preparations for the T20 World Cup in October.
And while he said while he was clear on the core of the squad for that assignment, Pollard said performances in the series against the Proteas were cause for a rethink of certain positions.
“Obviously there are some areas to be filled [and] there are a couple guys who we might have to look at by force because of what has transpired but for us, we have an idea of what we want to do but these series are very, very important,” he explained.
“You’ve got to show that we actually want it as individuals, and the guys selected now is not the be all and end all, and the ones who are actually going to take that plane.
“So I like to deal with the present so for us now, the South Africa series is done, we have another series here [against Australia] and the World Cup is in October.”
