ST GEORGE’S, Grenada, CMC – Head coach Phil Simmons has reiterated the importance of West Indies’ batsmen becoming more tactically aware during the middle overs, following the 3-2 series defeat to South Africa last weekend.
A side packed with power-hitters failed to chase down 169 in Saturday’s final Twenty20 International, and crashed to a 25-run defeat in the decisive encounter at the Grenada National Stadium.
Not for the first time, West Indies’ batsmen excelled in the power-plays but stumbled in the middle overs, leaving Simmons also bemoaning the thought process of his players at that critical stage of the game.
“We’ve got to think a little bit more. We’ve got to be smarter in our cricket – smarter especially in that seven to 14-over [period],” Simmons explained.
“We’ve just got to think about how we do things, think about the way we’re going to score in those overs and then set things up for the back end, because we’ve been good in the back end but we need to work on the middle section.”
He added: “It’s something we’ve got to look at, especially overs seven to 14. [We must show] we are getting better at it, we are learning how to deal with it, in order that we can get better scores.”
West Indies had hinted at their capabilities when they chased down 161 with five overs to spare in the opener but then faltered in their pursuit of 167 in the second T20I and 168 in the third, to crash to 16-run and one-run defeats respectively.
The common denominator in both defeats was the high number of dot balls – West Indies conceding 55 in the second match and 49 in the third, and another 50 in Saturday’s loss.
“I think it is definitely a tactical and technical change [required],” Simmons pointed out.
“You’ve got to be able to assess what situation you’re in and from that situation you’ve got to be able to formulate a plan to score the runs we need to score in that section, so tactically we’ve been lacking.”
And the former West Indies all-rounder said while the bowling aspect had been impressive during the series, especially on a good batting wicket, the batting now needed to step up.
“From a bowling point of view and fielding, it’s been excellent. On that wicket to keep teams to 160-odd has been brilliant but I think on the batting side we’ve let ourselves down in every game so far except the first game …,” he noted.
Several high profile players struggled for form during the series, including veteran left-hander Chris Gayle who scraped only 56 runs from four innings, to follow up a lean series against Sri Lanka last March where he managed only 29 runs from three innings.
Left-hander Nicholas Pooran also failed for the second straight series while opener Lendl Simmons again lacked consistency.
However, head coach Simmons said personnel changes had not yet been considered.
“It’s something I have to go back and think about. I haven’t really thought in that direction yet.”
West Indies face Australia in the first game of a five-match series starting in St Lucia on Friday.