Four-day tour a success but more consistency needed, warns West
DAMBULLA, Sri Lanka, CMC – Head coach Graeme West believes West Indies A have proven they have what is required to play at the highest level is urging more consistency from the unit, in the wake of their series defeat to Sri Lanka last week.
West Indies A opened the threematch four-day “Test” series with a loss when they went down by seven wickets in Colombo but rebounded superbly in the second game in Pallekele to pull off a crushing 333-run victory. However, they failed to keep their momentum and surrendered the series with a disappointing 138-run loss here in the final contest.
“Overall the guys did very well. To win the second game was a fantastic achievement, particularly the size of the victory against a side that was full of guys with Test match experience,” West said.
“The disappointments would be just small periods of play where we made a few mistakes and certainly in the third and final game, we didn’t really learn from the mistakes we made previously.”
He added: “The frustrating part of the final game was that the Sri Lankans didn’t have to play that well to beat us. None of their batters made hundreds [and] of their bowlers the spinners only really got into the game in the final session when we were in a quite a bit of trouble.”
West Indies A got encouraging performances from left-hander Vishaul Singh who struck an excellent 161 in the second “Test”, to finish the series with 324 runs at an average of 64.
Captain Shamarh Brooks was also among the runs, gathering a half-century in every game to finish with 249 runs at an average of nearly 50, while wicketkeeper Jahmar Hamilton narrowly missed out on a hundred with 99 in Pallekele. West Indies Under-19 captain Shimron Hetmyer also shone with 94 in the final “Test” here and West said several of the players had done well to advance their causes. “There’s a lot to take forward. A number of the players have certainly demonstrated, following on from good performances in the PCL (Professional Cricket League), that they have the ability and quality to play at the international level,” he noted.
“Overall, we just needed to be a little more consistent in all departments to be a little bit more successful, and [need] for three for four players to really sort of say to the selectors that [they] are worth a place in the Test squad.”
West Indies A and the hosts are contesting a three-match one-day series which bowled off here yesterday. The game was halted prematurely by rain and will continue on today’s reserve day.