Unfamiliarity cost Windies, says Holder
JBRIDGETOWN, Barbados (CMC): ASON HOLDER said he expects West Indies to bounce back from defeat now that they have a better idea of the Pakistan side.
The lanky all-rounder felt that unfamiliarity with a number of Pakistani players, especially debutant leg-spinner Shadab Khan, was principally the reason for the Windies’ sixwicket loss in the first Twenty20 international on Sunday at the Kensington Oval.
Khan had a memorable spell of three wickets for seven runs from his allotted four overs, as the home team was restricted to 118 for eight before the visitors successfully chased down the target with 17 balls remaining.
“We need to just sit down and work out our plans against all their bowlers,” said Holder. “Obviously, we are coming up against some guys who we have never played. In this situation, we need to find how best to play them given the conditions that we have.
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“We struggled with their slow bowlers and it’s a situation where we need to counteract their slow bowlers in the middle. Those were the guys who really put the strangle on us up front.”
Holder ruled out the pitch being a factor in the poor batting display. The surface had been under a matting cover for the last three days during the playing of a Regional Four-Day match between Barbados Pride and Guyana Jaguars.
“I felt that the pitch was slow and it was a little bit more difficult to hit on,” he said. “It broke up a little earlier than I thought it would, but bearing that in mind, we just needed to find ways to knock some balls back down the pitch. It was a good enough pitch for us to get 150, at least. Definitely think if we had 150 on the board it would’ve been a much better game.
“It’s clear we didn’t bat well. We started off with a runout, which gave them momentum. It was a very good piece of fielding, but we never really recovered from there. It was a situation in the middle where we had to consolidate, build a partnership.”
The remaining three T20Is in the series will be played Thursday, Saturday and next Sunday at Queen’s Park Oval in Trinidad.
Obviously, we are coming up against some guys who we have never played. In this situation, we need to find how best to play them given the conditions that we have