NEWS
Follow UsWest Indies have been one of the flag bearers of the One-Day International (ODI) World Cup, with the Men in Maroon winning the first two editions of the tournament. Till the 2019 World Cup, they have qualified every single time for the showpiece event.
The failure to qualify for the 50-over World Cup comes on the back of them not making it to the Super 12 stage of the T20 World Cup in Australia last year, after finishing bottom of Group B in the first round, behind Zimbabwe, Ireland and Scotland. Windies’ skipper Shai Hope though, insisted that turnaround won’t be quick and reckoned that none can be a great team all of a sudden.
"It starts from the foundation, preparation needs to be better. That's from back home," Hope said in the post-match presentation after the match.
"So, yeah, it starts from there. We can't just expect to wake up one morning and be a great team. There's a lot of things that we need to focus on. And yeah, we need to control what we can control. Right now, we are here playing cricket, and we need to make sure we give our all to the West Indian fans."
Windies have been guilty of several terrible fielding displays in the tournament, dropping 14 catches, six more than the other sides in the competition. Hope pointed that out, stating that ‘fielding is an attitude thing’ and reckoned that the team did not give its 100%.
"Fielding is an attitude thing," Hope said. "The effort needs to remain regardless of what's happening and I don't think we gave 100 percent every single time. We did it in patches but we need to improve that.
"Catches will be dropped and misfields will happen, that's a part of the game but I feel that we did not give 100% effort every time, we did it in patches."
In the game against Scotland, Hope opined that it was always going to be a tough time for West Indies early on considering that the conditions aided pace bowlers.
"We knew conditions would be in the bowlers' favour and every captain would have elected to field first. We needed to find ways to negate the early morning movement but we can't look at the past, we have to look forward and find ways to get better," Hope said.
Ahead of the tournament, it was always a risky proposition for the Windies, considering their ODI form, with them being a terrible side in that format over the last two years. But Hope didn’t lose hope, stating that the talent is always there, it is about converting them into consistent performances.
"I always believe the talent is there, no question, but we need to make sure we transfer that talent into consistent performances. They [Scotland] played very well, credit to them, they were disciplined and we can learn from that."
