West Indies head coach Floyd Reifer has called for more fight and determination to build up “longer partnerships” in a bid to turn around the fortunes of the team, as the lack of partnerships once again put them down in the second One Day International (ODI) against India on Sunday, 11th August.
Chasing 280 in Port of Spain, Evin Lewis (65) and Nicholas Pooran (42) had kept West Indies’ hopes alive but the loss of wickets at regular intervals handed 1-0 lead to India, as they eventually lost the match by 59 runs (DLS method) with the final ODI to be played on 14th August, Wednesday.
Reifer told media at the post-match conference, “We got to continue to learn from this experience. Guys in the middle order, we got to show more fight, a bit more grit. More determination to build those longer partnership. Again, we were in front today and then we found a way to give away our wickets, so it’s just a matter of us now to learn from our mistakes, continue to learn from our mistakes and try to dig deeper.”
Meanwhile, the head coach was impressed by efforts of his bowlers, restricting India to 279 for 7. He added, “I thought the bowlers bowled very well to restrict India to 279, I thought it was a very good effort from the bowlers. Great bowling line and length, variation of pace. Carlos Brathwaite really bowled well, Chase had a good spell, all the other bowlers, Cottrell again, a champion.”
Claiming that West Indies cricket is currently going through the rebuilding process, Reifer believes that the hosts can still win the final ODI against India.
The West Indian explained, “It’s not an uphill task (to win), like I said in the past interviews, we are rebuilding, we are building our side again. And when you are building a side, you get speed bumps along the way. It’s how you bounce back from them. Our meeting will be how we assess today and things we need to do better going the next game.”
He also felt honored to get the opportunity to play with Chris Gayle and coach him after the opener became the highest run-scorer for West Indies surpassing batting legend Brian Lara, and the first Caribbean player to play in 300 ODIs.
Reifer signed off by saying, “300 games for a West Indian, obviously he is the first to have done it. It is a great achievement I feel honoured to be here working with him. I have played with and against him and now I am coaching so it was great to see his 300th game.”
(With PTI Inputs)
