Two-time champions West Indies were knocked out of T20 World Cup after losing to Ireland in their final Group B clash of the T20 World Cup on Friday.
Meanwhile, Former West Indies fast bowler Sir Andy Roberts says the players have only themselves to blame for their exit from the ICC T20 World Cup.
Opt into Bat first, West Indies didn’t get their good start. Ireland drew first blood as Barry McCarthy foxed Kyle Mayers with his length ball, the left-hander completely mistiming the ball to mid-off.
Johnson Charles feasted on Curtis Campher’s short balls, taking two fours and a six on three consecutive deliveries in the fourth over.
But as soon as off-spinner Simi Singh took him out in his first over, as Charles sliced a short ball straight to the backward point.
But he didn’t find much support from the other end as Evin Lewis was rusty in his 18-ball stay and departed when he miscued a Delany googly to deep mid-off.
King continued to anchor the innings with back-to-back fours off McCarthy and get his sixth T20I fifty even as captain Nicholas Pooran fell while trying to clear the infield and Rovman Powell holed out to deep mid-wicket.
With King unable to get the desired acceleration, Odean Smith swung hard to hit four and two sixes in his 19 not out off 12 balls, but was unable to push West Indies past 150-mark.
Sir Andy says he is saddened by the result but not surprised.
“I said earlier that we are going to struggle to get through the qualifying round,” Sir Andy said during the Good Morning JoJo sports show on Antigua-based Radio.
“We should never have put ourselves in that position where we have to struggle with Zimbabwe, Ireland and Scotland. It’s not something that we should be proud about, seeing that most of what was said over the years has passed on deaf ears. I can only blame our players for what is happening in our cricket. The players must shoulder the responsibility and decide from here on that they are going to improve their cricket. Until our batsmen, especially, improve on their batting, we’re not going anywhere.”
Sir Andy was particularly critical of the West Indies batsmen, who he said were picking poor shots.
“Right now what we have is a bunch of swipers — not batters,” he declared. “They think that hitting sixes is everything, but the rest of the world shows us that hitting sixes is not the only solution to T20 cricket. Batting, and batting properly, makes more sense. Our players have to go back and play four-day cricket so that they can learn to bat, instead of just swiping.”
Sir Andy also questioned whether players have pride in representing the West Indies.
“It comes down to a lot of things — commitment, and the desire to get better than you actually are because if we work hard at whatever we do, we can get better,” he reasoned. “It may come down to a lack of pride, who knows?
First and foremost we sent players to the world Cup that should not even been considered for selection anyway and now regretting it bullshit. The whole management team and selection team should be a shame. We and said as West indies supporters it’s like watching a bunch of rum heads playing cricket. No idea what they are doing.