Stuttering Windies making improvements, assures Law

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PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad (CMC) — West Indies head coach Stuart Law said Thursday there was no need to push the panic button, after the regional side crashed to a second straight defeat to Pakistan in the four-match series at Queen’s Park Oval.
In fact, the Australian is convinced that West Indies have made some “massive” strides in some areas since their opening loss in Barbados last Sunday, and believes they can force their way back into the series.
“We are slowly improving. I think we played a better game of cricket today. The way we bowled and fielded was a massive improvement,” Law told reporters.
“Marlon Samuels was outstanding, Chadwick Walton at the top was pretty good as well. We just needed a bit of a hand towards the back end of the innings to stick with Marlon (Samuels) and then to finish the job off but Carlos (Brathwaite), Jason (Holder) and Sunil Narine nearly pulled off a victory.”
He added: “I think we are clicking. We are getting better, we’ve gelled really well as a team over the last couple of days so … I think we just have to start playing better cricket.
Chasing a modest 132, West Indies declined from a strong position of 60 for one to end three runs short on 129 for eight off their 20 overs.
Veteran stroke-maker Samuels shone with an attractive 35-ball 44 while Holder hit an unbeaten 26 from 17 balls at number eight, but no other batsman really got among the runs.
The story was similar in the opening T20 International when captain Brathwaite was the only one to pass 20 with an unbeaten 34, in the Windies’ paltry 111 batting first.
Law identified the failing batting as the crux of the problem.
“Apart from Marlon, no one has really got in and got the scores,” he lamented.
“We’ve got a couple of starts but we just need someone to go on and I think it’s getting better. Fingers crossed, on Saturday we turn up and play a proper game of cricket.”
The defeat left the reigning T20 champions with a five-game losing skid, dating back to last September in the United Arab Emirates when they suffered a 3-0 whitewash at the hands of Pakistan.
But Law, who took over earlier this month for the one-day series against England which the Windies also lost 3-0, said while there was no immediate plans to make changes to the squad, some would be made if they were thought necessary.

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