DUBAI, United Arab Emirates – Assistant coach Roddy Estwick says West Indies have written off Saturday’s chastening defeat to England as “one bad game” and would not allow it to define their campaign in the Twenty20 World Cup.
West Indies were flattened for 55 in the 15th over at the Dubai International Stadium. England pulled off a six-wicket victory to condemn the reigning champions to an emphatic loss in their opening game.
Estwick said despite the manner of the defeat; it was essential players did not lose their motivation and team spirit.
“Well, one bad game doesn’t make a summer. We realize we had a bad game,” he told a media conference Monday.
“We’ve had a chat about it. The players had some volleyball [on Sunday] to help them to relax to try, to try to build some team spirit, but we’re about to have a practice session.”
He continued: “The one thing you can do is, once you lose a game, you can look for all the excuses in the world. You can nitpick all you want [but] you’ve got to back the players.
“Our job is to get the players up, make sure they remain confident, make sure they still believe in their ability, make sure the dressing room is still a happy place, and let them go enjoy the game of cricket because that’s why they started playing.
“You start playing cricket because you enjoy doing it. They’re fortunate enough that they become international superstars, and they are representing their country.
“But at the end of the day, it’s all about enjoyment, and once the enjoyment comes first and the attitude is right, then your skill level will remain high, and your discipline will remain very high.”
Against England, West Indies were taken apart by leg-spinner Adil Rashid who snared a career-best 4-2, while off-spinner Moeen Ali and left-arm seamer Tymal Mills grabbed two wickets apiece.
Estwick, the West Indies bowling coach, said it was important that his side assessed conditions correctly against South Africa not to repeat the same mistakes.
“I believe that there’s enough for both spinners and pacers. It is all about assessing the conditions,” Estwick stressed.
“The pitch will give you the information, and the team that grabs that information the quickest and executes their skills the best, they will come out on top because the pitch will always give you the information. Angles change from day today.
“You might go into a game where you want to hit the pitch hard, but you realize that the rise is not that type of pitch – the ball is standing up.
“You might have to bowl it a little bit fuller, or you might find that the ground is a lot smaller on one side, so you might have to go to depth early.”
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