West Indies suffered an ODI series defeat after losing 1-2 to Australia. After having won the second ODI which was rescheduled and forcing the series to a decider, West Indies collapsed once more and were bowled out for 152 and Australia chased the target down in 30.3 overs and six wickets to spare.
All the three ODIs were played at Kensington Oval, Bridgetown, Barbados were all low-scoring games. Australia in the first ODI was the only instance when 200 runs were scored.
West Indies skipper Kieron Pollard was unhappy with the pitch that was offered and termed it unacceptable, ridiculous and said that it was an embarrassment. He went on to say that the pitch was not of the international standards.
“I think both teams struggled with the bat on this surface and I think that's unacceptable for international cricket. We aren't going to give excuses. We accept the fact that we batted badly, but the scores in this series, with two top international sides, that's very embarrassing for us as people.
Coming from St Lucia, I think it's absolutely ridiculous. I don't want to go on and on... as that might make some headlines, but Australia has been better than us,” Kieron Pollard said in the post-match presentation.
The Barbados wicket initially looked good in the 3rd ODI, but once Ewin Lewis was taken off the field after being hit on the helmet, the Australian bowlers extracted a lot more from the surface. The spin trio of Ashton Agar, Adam Zampa, and Ashton Turner spun a web around the hosts. They picked five wickets between them at an economy of 3.2. Kieron Pollard said that his team was around 70 runs short and should have batted better.
“Obviously, we didn't bat well. Yes, the wicket was a bit tacky but not losing early wickets was the key. Not getting partnerships is what has been haunting us for a while. If we had got a 220 score on that pitch, it could have been different,” Pollard said.
The West-Indian skipper was all praise of his counterpart. Alex Carey won his first series as captain of Australia.
“Carey has a calm head on his shoulders and got to know that from the Adelaide Strikers. He has been good on his captaincy debut and long may that continue,” he concluded.
(Inputs: Sportscafe)
