Injury concern for West Indies skipper Jason Holder
Dec 31, 2018 at 2:04 PM
West Indies skipper Jason Holder injured his hamstring in his side’s fixture last evening against Australia at Barbados. In a reasonably close game, Australia ended up winning by 6 wickets with 8 balls to spare. As a courtesy of a victory in their final game, the Kangaroos have secured their berth for the final on Sunday.
“I thought we had a good score on the board,” said West Indies skipper Jason Holder. “Marlon was outstanding – his partnership with Ramdin was great. Unfortunate not to have finished well, though. Samuels has been excellent for us. I have strained my left hamstring, hopefully, I will be fine by Friday, I don’t know about it, though, might get an idea over the next couple of days,” Holder added, about his current condition. “We were a bowler short and that cost us tonight. We created a few chances, but we didn’t take it. The next game is a must-win game, South Africa are a good team, they have done well, should be a good game,” said Holder.
For Australia, flamboyant batsman Glenn Maxwell finally struck form as he played a decisive cameo in the latter overs to turn the tide in Australia’s favor. Maxwell’s unbeaten knock of 46 off just 26 deliveries was instrumental behind Australia scaling down 283 to win. The hard hitting all rounder built upon the foundation that was set by skipper Steve Smith in the chase and later by Mitchell Marsh. Smith and Marsh both scored half centuries in order to get Australia closer.
Steve Smith admitted that there was further scope for improvement in the bowling department. “I thought West Indies played well. 280 was about par. They fought back after losing three wickets. The partnership between Samuels and Ramdin nearly took the game away from us, but, I thought we pulled things back nicely. We haven’t played the perfect game, our bowling wasn’t the best,” said Smith.
“We knew it would be a tough chase, got a few partnerships going, Mitchell Marsh was excellent and Maxwell played some of his trademark shots. We will continue to play good hard cricket. It doesn’t bother whom we play in the final on Sunday,” a confident Smith said.