GEORGETOWN, Guyana, CMC – Captain Nicholas Pooran has alluded to “frustrating times” for West Indies’ batsmen in the wake of the latest One-Day International defeat to Bangladesh, but said his side would continue to work diligently to solve their batting crisis.
The Caribbean tasted its 10th defeat on the trot to the Tigers when they a suffered nine-wicket thrashing in the second ODI at the Guyana National Stadium here Wednesday, the result coming on the heels of last Sunday’s six-wicket loss.
In both games, West Indies’ batting proved abysmal with totals of 149 and 108 – the latter their second lowest-ever against Bangladesh.
Pooran conceded the period was a difficult one for the batting group but backed them to remain focussed on solutions.
“At the moment, it’s frustrating times for us as a batting group in ODI cricket but we’re together, we’re a family and we’re going to figure it out soon,” said a downbeat Pooran.
He added: “We definitely need to bat properly – 100 per cent. In order for us to win games, we need to put something respectable in terms of totals and again, it’s for us to find ways – just keep finding ways.
“We’re a young team, we’re playing together [but] we hardly play ODI cricket these days. The more games we play, the more we’ll understand each other and how to go about it.”
Both games were played on fresh pitches resulting from the time they spent covered because of the rainy conditions here in recent weeks.
On both occasions, the home side’s batsmen struggled after being asked to bat first and Pooran said the conditions early in the morning had been difficult for run-scoring.
“It’s difficult to say [what a par score is] because the wicket gets better the longer the innings goes ahead,” he pointed out.
“This is the fifth time now we’ve batted first in the Caribbean in the last two series and we haven’t been able to score [a big total] so it’s definitely a challenge batting early up, especially losing the toss again.
“The batsmen, we spoke [before the match] about different ways to score. You saw guys trying to sweep [on Wednesday], [and] reverse sweep and it didn’t come off.
“We asked guys to keep coming with different plans but at the moment we’re still figuring it out, we’re a young group. We’re going to stick together and try our best.”
The year has been a difficult one for the West Indies in the ODI format as they have lost 10 of the 14 matches played.
And they have now lost both series staged in the Caribbean after going down 2-1 to minnows Ireland in Jamaica last January. Reflecting on the Ireland series where they also lost every toss and were forced to bat first, Pooran said it was obvious the toss was crucial in such conditions.
“The toss plays a big factor. Whoever wins the toss wins 75 per cent [of the games] in the Caribbean at 9:30 am [starts],” said the Trinidadian, presiding over his first ODI series as full-time skipper.
“Again, it’s not about making excuses but accepting the challenges and come out here and keep fighting as a team.
“Everyone would question us and challenge us but the group of guys I have there in the dressing room are there fighting, they’re racking their brains to get ideas for us and try to be better as a cricket team.
“We’re trying our best and eventually I hope we figure it out.”
