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Brathwaite critical of Windies batting collapse

Published:Monday | August 6, 2018 | 12:00 AM
Randy Brooks
Windies batsman Marlon Samuels leaves the pitch after being bowled in the third Twenty20 International against Bangladesh on Sunday night at the Central Broward Regional Park in Lauderhill, Florida, USA. CWI Media/Randy Brooks of Brooks Latouche Photography

LAUDERHILL, Florida (CMC):

Captain Carlos Brathwaite has lamented the Windies' batting failure which led to their series 2-1 loss to Bangladesh on Sunday night, stressing that the Caribbean side needed to find solutions to their poor strike rotation during the middle overs.

For the second time in as many nights at the Central Broward Regional Park Stadium, the reigning Twenty20 champions failed to execute properly in a run-chase and collapsed to a 19-run defeat under Duckworth-Lewis-Stern.

"I didn't think it was our smartest batting performance. Obviously, with (Nazmul Islam) going off through injury, we had to stack it up well enough that we forced the three overs and three balls that were remaining and obviously try and take them down as best as possible," Brathwaite said afterwards.

"(Soumya) Sarkar came in and bowled two quality overs but even at the back end, needing 30 for 40 off the last three (against) a 'part-timer' we still think we could have won the game.

"I didn't think we kept enough wickets in hand, but kudos must go to (our) bowlers after the start that they (Bangladesh) had. We were staring down the barrel of 210-220. To pull it back to 185 was a hell of a job."

Chasing 185, the Windies lost three early wickets to slump to 32 for three in the sixth over before AndrÈ Russell blasted 47 from 21 deliveries to try to rescue the innings.

Impotent Effort

Rovman Powell chipped in with 23 and Denesh Ramdin, 21, but the overall effort proved an impotent one, and it allowed Bangladesh to be ahead on DLS when rain intervened with the Windies on 135 for seven at the start of the 18th over.

"The bowling unit has been fantastic, but with the bat, we still need to be a little more sure with our plans, especially to spin," the all-rounder pointed out.

"Rotating in the middle overs has always been our Achilles and obviously going away now to Bangladesh and India (later this year) it will be even more important for us to find ways to execute in the middle order against the spin.

"I think we are getting closer and closer to finding that proper plan that will help us to get through the middle overs a lot better."