Shai Hope happy with bowling attack despite 5-0 loss, but has bemoaned his team’s consistency with the bat.
‘Batting always one step behind’ but captain Shai Hope happy with bowling attack.
After the West Indies were swept 5-0 by Australia in the Twenty20 International series, skipper Shai Hope lamented his team’s incapacity to play a full game with the bat.
After the West Indies were bowled out for 170, the lowest total of the series, the visitors won by three wickets in the last match in St Kitts. They took Australia to 60 for 4 on the powerplay, and Akeal Hosein went on to take 3 for 17, but they lost a key component of their attack when Alzarri Joseph was injured one ball into his third over.
The inability of the West Indies to build on early victories had defined the first three games of the series. They only achieved 189 in the first game in Jamaica, despite being 123 for 1 in the thirteenth over. 63 for 0 turned into 172 for 8 in the second. Hope and Brandon King put on 125 for the opening wicket as the series went to St Kitts, but the middle order was unable to thrive.
They partially recovered from their dismal openings in the last two games—67 for 4 turned into 205 and 9 and 32 for 3 turned into 170—but Australia was always able to leave with plenty of room to spare.
“I just didn’t think we put together a proper batting display,” Hope said at the post-match presentation. “We either started well and finished poorly or the other way around. When you’re playing against quality opposition like Australia, you’ve got to put things together for a more complete game.
“As a batting group, we didn’t really give ourselves the best chance to put a big score on the board consistently. And that’s probably where we fell short… We’ve always been one step behind the eight ball.”