Sir Curtly rubbishes Braithwaite’s claims, believes Windies lack motivation

Former West Indies fast bowler, Sir Curtly Ambrose, has labelled comments by West Indies T20 captain, Carlos Braithwaite over the team’s recent performances against Pakistan as ridiculous while suggesting that their standard of play has deteriorated since last year’s World Cup triumph.
Braithwaite, who shot to fame after hitting four consecutive sixes against England to lift West Indies to victory in the World Cup finals last year April had, following their opening loss to Pakistan, suggested that their dismal performance was as a result of them not knowing the Pakistani players well.
According to Sir Curtly however, this is not a legitimate argument.
“So what are you going to do, wait for another two or three series to get accustomed to some players? It doesn’t work like that. I can understand you meet a guy for the first time and he caused some problems in that first game because you had never seen him before but by the time the second game comes around, you should have an idea of what he is capable of or what he can do,” he said.
“You can’t be telling me you are going to wait until the end of the series or two series later to say you are going to work him out. It doesn’t work like that, you have to work him out right now,” the Antiguan said.
The regional squad narrowly lost the second T20 by three runs on Thursday in Trinidad in the four match series.
Sir Curtly believes the team has lost its will to win.
“This is getting worst and worst and I’ve started believing that these guys don’t know or have the knowhow to win games. Too many times they find themselves in a winning position and then for some strange or unknown reason it’s just like they lose their focus, they lose their train of thought and end up losing and it’s like they don’t have the knowhow to win anymore,” he said.
Chasing an uncomplicated 133 for victory at Queen’s Park Oval, West Indies saw their run chase unravel spectacularly, with 18-year-old leg-spinner Shadab Khan once again proving their nemesis with another Man-of-the-Match four-wicket effort.
The hosts were cruising at 60 in the ninth over behind Marlon Samuels’s top score of 44, but Shadab’s introduction saw four wickets tumble for just 16 runs off 29 deliveries, leaving the innings in strife on 81 for six in the 13^th over.
But needing 14 runs from the final over, Sunil Narine (9) lifted the Windies hopes when he hammered the first two deliveries of the over from seamer Hasan Ali for boundaries.
Things then took a turn for the worst, however, Narine missed a swat at the third ball and even after Ali sent down a leg-side wide next delivery, the left-hander failed to connect with the fourth ball, leaving West Indies requiring five off the last two.
Narine was run out off the fifth and Jason Holder, who finished unbeaten on 26 off 17 deliveries, could only muster a single off the final ball.