Ahead of the five-match T20I series against Australia, West Indies captain Kieron Pollard has admitted that the batting line-up was struggling to find a balance between boundaries and dots balls, and even they have been working hard on it, but nothing worked so far.
In the recent five-match T20I series against South Africa, West Indies faced 233 dot balls and eventually went on to lose the series 3-2.
Pollard said West Indies is aware of the problem and also worked on improving their “maneuvering game” and on hitting “no boundaries” in a couple of pre-series net sessions in Grenada ahead of the five-match T20I series against Australia starting on July 10.
Pollard said ahead of the first T20I: “Yes we have had a high percentage of dot balls throughout the series (against South Africa), and in the one prior to that. It has been spoken about time and again and I can assure you that we try not to leave any stone unturned. We have a wealth of experience and coaches who take time to go into details of where we need to improve as a team.”
He continued, “There's a lot of conversations taking place but we still need to put it into practice. Some things might take longer but that's the nature of life. It's like going into school, some people need extra lessons to get it right. It can become a concern but is it a concern when you look around at the other teams and we hit more boundaries than them at different times. That's our strength and it's two-fold.”
After playing 5 T20Is inside 8 days against South Africa, West Indies will now play another five T20Is against Australia over only 8 days and Pollard said it is difficult for players to work on specific skills during such tight schedules, saying they can’t “work miracles overnight.”
He further explained, “When you play a series and have two games back-to-back, you have one day's rest, then play another game and the toll that it takes on the body is going to be very high. How much can you actually work on a practical perspective to get it right? With that being said, most of the time we can have conversations, show the guys visuals of what to expect in those scenarios. Then when we do get the opportunity we try to work on it as much as possible. We can't work miracles overnight.”
The skipper also backed youngsters like Nicholas Pooran and Shimron Hetmyer who had poor series against South Africa, saying they will stick with them for the Australia series at home.
Pollard signed off by saying, “We are going to stick with these guys because we know deep down that these guys are talented and have what it takes to take West Indies cricket forward. As a team, we are willing to work with these youngsters because we know in the future what they can do. Sometimes the easiest suggestion is to put them on the sidelines but is that going to help? Has it worked before?”
(With Cricbuzz Inputs)
