After an encouraging victory over the South Africans at Guyana, things were back to square one for the West Indies. Against a rejuvenated Australian side, the hosts collapsed like nine pins to hand over the Kangaroos a bonus point. A total of just 116 was enough to depict the agony of the West Indian batting lineup.
Australia had no issues chasing the total down as the Kangaroos won with more than 24 overs to spare. Addressing his side’s embarrassing loss, skipper Jason Holder pointed out batting as the prime reason behind the loss. The West Indian batsmen played some terrible shots to gift their wickets away. Andre Fletcher for instance, played a loose drive off Mitchell Starc to begin the procession.
“If you went through the dismissals, there were quite a few soft dismissals. The Australians challenged us in terms of building pressure, but I don’t think they got us out with any spectacular balls, per se. We just played some horrible shots out there at a crucial stage of the game which cost us our wickets,” a dejected Holder said. “We never really got any partnerships going. Just not enough runs on the board, to be honest. The bowlers didn’t really have anything to bowl at, although we tried really, really hard and did get four of the Australians’ wickets,” Holder added.
The skipper though, praised Sunil Narine for making an immediate impact with the ball. “I thought Sunil Narine came in and did an excellent job for us in the end and we got some wickets upfront.I think we’ve bowled reasonably well for the first two games; the bowlers have really put up their hands. It’s just important for the batsmen to build partnerships, especially up front, and just give ourselves some cushion in the middle and be able to blast at the end with the power we have in the dressing room. But the most important thing for us is to get some partnerships going up front and let the momentum flow through the mid-innings,” Holder concluded.