VARIATION IN PACE KEY TO SUCCESS, SAYS MCCOY
GROS ISLET, St Lucia (CMC) — Obed Mccoy said he made key adjustments to his bowling plan in order to hurt the Australians in Friday night’s opening Twenty20 International (T20I).
The rookie left-arm seamer, in only his 11th T20I, snatched four for 26 from four overs, to bundle Australia out for 127 and give West Indies a come-frombehind 18-run win at the Daren Sammy National Stadium here.
Australia seemed in control of the run chase at 108 for four in the 11th over but lost their last six wickets for only 19 runs in the space of 33 deliveries.
“It feels great. I’ve been working really hard and it’s all about execution and sticking to the team plans,” the 24-year-old said afterwards.
“Normally on that surface, the ball has nice bounce and carry but I was just trying to slow up my pace as much as I can so the ball can hold up in the wicket.
“I noticed earlier in the innings when the spinners were bowling, they were getting a bit of turn but not much, so I was saying that my slower balls would grip enough.”
Friday’s performance came on the heels of an outstanding five-match series against South Africa where he took nine wickets at an economy rate of seven runs per over, even though West Indies slumped to a 3-2 defeat.
Mccoy claimed a career-best four for 22 in the third T20I at the Grenada National Stadium, as the home side suffered a narrow one-run loss.
He said it was important to continue improving his skills as he played more international cricket.
“Evolving comes with experience as well and doing the right things in practice, and going out there in the game and executing,” he stressed.
Not for the first time in recent outings, West Indies’ batsmen struggled, and could only muster 145 for six from their 20 overs, despite Andre Russell’s top score of 51.
But Mccoy said the Windies were always confident of defending the total, especially with the quality in their attack.
“We were confident. We knew we had the bowling to back it (total) and we have the fielding and the experience of (Dwayne) Bravo, Chris Gayle, Andre Russell, (Nicholas) Pooran,” he explained.
“So we knew we had to go out there and fight hard.”
West Indies were scheduled to take on Australia in the second T20I at the same venue yesterday beginning at 7:30 pm.