Head coach Phil Simmons has reiterated the importance of West Indies’ batsmen becoming more tactically aware during the middle overs, following the 3-2 series defeat to South Africa last weekend.
A side packed with power-hitters failed to chase down 169 in Saturday’s final Twenty20 International, and crashed to a 25-run defeat in the decisive encounter at the Grenada National Stadium.
Not for the first time, West Indies’ batsmen excelled in the power-plays but stumbled in the middle overs, leaving Simmons also bemoaning the thought process of his players at that critical stage of the game.
“We’ve got to think a little bit more. We’ve got to be smarter in our cricket – smarter especially in that seven to 14-over [period],” Simmons explained.
“We’ve just got to think about how we do things, think about the way we’re going to score in those overs and then set things up for the back end, because we’ve been good in the back end but we need to work on the middle section.”
He added: “It’s something we’ve got to look at, especially overs seven to 14. [We must show] we are getting better at it, we are learning how to deal with it, in order that we can get better scores.”
A side packed with power-hitters failed to chase down 169 in Saturday’s final Twenty20 International, and crashed to a 25-run defeat in the decisive encounter at the Grenada National Stadium.
Not for the first time, West Indies’ batsmen excelled in the power-plays but stumbled in the middle overs, leaving Simmons also bemoaning the thought process of his players at that critical stage of the game.
“We’ve got to think a little bit more. We’ve got to be smarter in our cricket – smarter especially in that seven to 14-over [period],” Simmons explained.
“We’ve just got to think about how we do things, think about the way we’re going to score in those overs and then set things up for the back end, because we’ve been good in the back end but we need to work on the middle section.”
He added: “It’s something we’ve got to look at, especially overs seven to 14. [We must show] we are getting better at it, we are learning how to deal with it, in order that we can get better scores.”