West Indies T20 captain Nicholas Pooran believes a bitterly disappointing end to the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup should serve as a learning experience for the team.
On Friday, a dominant half-century from veteran opener Paul Stirling put an end to the campaign of the Caribbean team, in the first round of the tournament. Stirling’s 66 from 48 deliveries led the Irish to a resounding 9-wicket win with 15 balls remaining and a spot in the Super-12.
The result confirmed a far fall for the West Indies, the two-time champions of the event lost two of three matches to teams who came through the qualification phase. Once again, the Windies struggled with the bat on what looked like a fair surface, limping to 146 for 5 in their 20 overs, before Ireland easily moved down the total, with a little application, proving there were no demons in the pitch.
“It’s obviously a learning experience. We have disappointed our fans back home and most importantly disappointed ourselves,” Pooran said following the match.
“It’s definitely hurting. I definitely disappointed the guys in how I performed as well but we live to see another day,” he added.
In continuation of a general theme in the format this year, the team continued to find runs at the crease hard to come by and were well bogged down by the Ireland strategy. Brandon King ended the innings unbeaten for the West Indies on 62 from 48.
“We haven’t batted well in this tournament at all. On a really good batting surface coming out here and making 145 it was always difficult to ask the bowlers to defend that on this track.” (www.sportsmax.tv)
