“Our batting was definitely a bit unprofessional” – Phil Simmons was very unhappy about the Windies batting performance against Scotland

Scotland defeated two-time champions West Indies by 42 runs in the first match in Hobart in the qualifying round of the T20 World Cup.

West Indies captain Nicholas Pooran won the toss and elected to bowl first and Scotland managed a competitive score.

Batting first, Scotland scored 160 runs for the loss of five wickets in 20 overs. George Munsi scored 66 runs in 53 balls.

In reply, West Indies were reduced to 118 runs in 18.3 overs. Not a single T20 match was played before this match between West Indies and Scotland.

Scotland stunned the former world champions with a surprise win and have moved up to first place in Group B.

West Indies head coach Phil Simmons was left very unhappy about the batting performance of his team after they failed to chase down 160 against Scotland.

A collapse that saw them lose six wickets for 21 runs in the middle led them to fall short of their target by 42 runs. Simmons placed the blame for the defeat squarely on the batters.

“I think the only way to say is we’re disappointed. I think our batting today was definitely a bit unprofessional. I think we need to wake up and start being as professional as we can be when we’re batting. The bowlers seemed to be working hard and putting us in good positions but the batters continued to falter,” Simmons said in the post-match press conference.

The coach was also at a loss for words to explain why such collapses keep repeating themselves.

“I don’t know. I haven’t questioned the dressing room yet, let them calm down a little bit first, let myself calm down a little bit first before I go into the dressing room,” quipped Simmons.

“I think it was too many soft dismissals. I think as batsmen you have to pay a lot more attention to your wicket. Every time we play we’re up there with the run-rate, doesn’t matter who we are playing. But we keep losing wickets. So I think I’ve been trying to remedy that for the last couple of months but doesn’t seem like it’s there yet,” he added.

West Indies lost as many as three batters trying to clear the longer boundaries straight down the ground and a run out as they were put under pressure in the chase.

“That’s exactly it. You need to sum up the game and the situation of the game and play to the situation of the game. I don’t think we did that all times today,” said Simmons.

In a tightly contested group, the loss puts West Indies under a lot more pressure going forward, and adding to that would be the weather forecast with rain set to play a part later in Hobart.

“We need to beat Zimbabwe first, then we think about everything else. I think that’s the first step,” quipped Simmons.

“You have to think about the next game against Zimbabwe and how we have to beat Zimbabwe. it was last year that Bangladesh lost a close game and still ended up in the Super 12s. So we just have to think about Zimbabwe right now.”