TAROUBA, Trinidad (CMC):
WEST INDIES captain Rovman Powell believes improvements need to be made to his side’s bowling if they are to seriously challenge at next year’s Twenty20 World Cup.
Pointing to the third and fourth Twenty20 Internationals of the just-concluded five-match series against England, Powell said his bowlers had not executed properly, leading to totals in excess of 200 runs on both occasions.
“We are prepared [for the World Cup] but we still have areas where we need to sharpen up, especially our bowling,” Powell told reporters after West Indies won the final T20 International by four wickets to clinch the series.
“Two games back to back England beat us badly as a bowling group, [scoring] in excess of 220 back to back, but there’s a lot of work for us to do so hopefully over the next few months, we can sharpen up and get those areas sorted.”
In both matches, opener Phil Salt blasted amazing hundreds – an unbeaten 109 followed up by 119 – as West Indies’ bowlers struggled to contain the 27-year-old right-hander.
And Powell said it had been important for the bowlers to refine their plans to shackle Salt and his dangerous opening partner, captain Jos Buttler.
“We sat in our team room and tried to have some one-on-one discussions with the guys and we just tried our best to come up with collective plans of how to control [Salt] and control Buttler,” Powell explained.
“For the last two games, they scored 70 in the power play – totally [wrote] us off.
“Even having said that, I think for the last two games, we haven’t executed properly as a bowling unit. I still think we had good plans but we just didn’t execute.”
West Indies raced to a 2-0 lead in the series, winning the opener in Barbados by four wickets and the second game in Grenada by 10 runs before the wheels came off.
England subsequently chased down 223 to win the third game by seven wickets and then racked up a record 267 in the fourth T20I to come away with a 75-run victory.
In the do-or-die contest on Thursday, West Indies restricted them to 132 and then overhauled their target with four balls to spare.
“We played very well. After England came back in the series and put us under pressure, I think the guys responded like champions,” said Powell.
“We know the conditions and it would have been difficult for the groundsman to [prepare] two belters back to back here in Trinidad because the games are so close.
“So you get the first game and it’s a belter and then it (pitch) becomes a little low and slow for the second game.”