West Indies captain Shai Hope has attributed his team’s 5-0 T20I series whitewash at the hands of Australia to a lack of consistency, particularly from the batting unit.
Speaking after the final match of the series, Hope expressed disappointment over his side’s inability to produce a complete performance, especially with the bat, allowing Australia to chase down targets comfortably in every game.
“I just didn’t think we put together a proper batting display. We either started well and finished poorly or the other way around,” Hope said.
“When you’re playing against quality opposition like Australia, you’ve got to put things together for a more complete game,” he added.
The first three matches highlighted West Indies’ struggles to capitalise on strong starts. In the opener, they were cruising at 123 for 1 in the 13th over but ended with just 189.
The trend continued in the second match, where they reached 63 for 0 early but could only post 172. In the third game, a 125-run opening stand was wasted as the middle order faltered on a batting-friendly pitch.
In the final two games, West Indies faltered from the start, leaving the middle order with too much to do. Hope acknowledged the recurring issue, saying, “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.”
Interestingly, West Indies opted to set targets in all five matches, which contradicts the usual strategy in the Caribbean, where chasing is often seen as advantageous.
“I think here in the Caribbean, we all know the stats show chasing is always the better thing to do,” he said.
“Whether it’s the dew factor, wind factor, you always have that scoreboard in front of you, so you have an idea of how to go about the chase. But it’s something that I can’t control. Unfortunately, I didn’t win any [tosses] It’s just one of those things for us,” he continued
Despite the heavy defeat, Hope praised his bowling unit for showing determination throughout the series and believes the upcoming T20I series against Pakistan, starting July 31, will offer a chance to regroup.
“I think that we’re a little bit clearer in the bowling unit.” said Shai Hope.
“I still must commend the guys for the effort that they showed in the back end, to give ourselves a chance to win the game. But once you don’t have that many runs on the board, then you [have] got to hope everything goes perfectly in the field. It just didn’t happen for us.”
“We certainly executed a lot better than we did in the first few games. We’ve got to put this one behind us, and look ahead for the Pakistan series, and see where we can get that combination and that success going.”
It is pertinent to mention that Pakistan will face the West Indies in the opening T20I on Thursday in Lauderhill, with Salman Ali Agha set to lead the side during the T20I series.
Following the T20Is, the tour will shift to the Caribbean, where Mohammad Rizwan will take over captaincy duties for the three-match ODI series, beginning August 8 at the Brian Lara Cricket Academy in Trinidad & Tobago.