NORTH SOUND, Antigua, CMC – West Indies captain Shai Hope said his side will be pushing hard to win the second One-day International against England on Wednesday in Antigua and not let the hard they have put in to prepare for the series go to waste.
The Caribbean side led the three-match series 1-0 after they completed their highest successful run chase of 326 to clinch a four-wicket win in the first ODI this past Sunday at the Vivian Richards Cricket Ground, where the second match will also be played.
“We had some excellent preparation done leading into the series, and it is now about topping up after we have put ourselves in a solid position to win the series,” he told reporters on the eve of the match. “It will be great to go up 2-0 and win the series.
“Every time you cross the line and go onto the field, your main focus has to be to win. Every time we play cricket matches for West Indies, it’s so much more than just development, which is, yes, a big thing for us, especially in this situation that we are faced with, but we are 1-0 up in this series, and the main focus right now is to win.”
An insider video of Hope congratulating his side in the dressing room after the win revealed him reminding them they had yet to achieve the ultimate objective because the series was not yet won. West Indies teams of the recent past had won series openers and then failed to follow up.
“I thought the start (to our innings) was perfect,” he added. “It’s Something that we speak about time and time again. The opening partnership was terrific, but we need to make sure that we stop losing wickets in clusters.
“Going forward, we need to build on the kind of start we had, especially in a series like this; when you have the upper hand, we need to make sure we replicate those solid batting performances and learn from our mistakes.”
He added: “Something I highlighted even before we went out to chase the runs. We often find ourselves only winning matches when we pursue 180, 190, and 200, so we need to make it more consistent that if you want to be an elite team, you have to be chasing scores of 300 plus.
“We also must remember that we have more time than we think in the innings, and this is the perfect opportunity to build from this game. And it certainly should give our batters some confidence that we can chase scores like that, but we have to make sure we are doing things better and better each day and grow as a team.”
The bowling will cause concern for West Indies, with their five main bowlers conceding a minimum of 60 apiece in their 10-over allotment.
“After the kind of start they got, we needed someone to control things a bit in the middle overs,” Hope said. “Motie did that in the last few overs of the Power Play, but it was nice to see that we did not let that score from 325 to 370.
“It would have been a whole different ballgame, and it was nice to see the bowlers come back and fight the way they did, especially taking wickets at crucial stages so that England did not have the impetus they normally would have at the back end of the innings. Pleasing signs to see from the bowlers.”
England showed glimpses of their destructive batting line-up in the last match, but they could not back it up with their bowling, which cost them the opening match.
Having had a few days to work on their shortcomings, a better performance will be expected from the visitors, and they will be gunning to level the series.
A significant positive was the performance of teenaged leg-spinner Rehan Ahmed after he put the brakes on Windy’s batting when the pacers appeared to get little help from the pitch that favored the batting side.
Squads:
WEST INDIES (from): Shai Hope (captain), Alzarri Joseph (vice-captain), Alick Athanaze, Yannic Cariah, Keacy Carty, Roston Chase, Matthew Forde, Shimron Hetmyer, Brandon King, Gudakesh Motie, Kjorn Ottley, Sherfane Rutherford, Romario Shepherd, Oshane Thomas.
ENGLAND (from): Jos Buttler (captain), Rehan Ahmed, Gus Atkinson, Harry Brook, Brydon Carse, Zak Crawley, Sam Curran, Ben Duckett, Tom Hartley, Will Jacks, Liam Livingstone, Ollie Pope, Phil Salt, Matthew Potts, John Turner.
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