West Indies coach, Phil Simmons, believes batsmen must avoid the temptation of being too tentative in looking to navigate the Sri Lanka spin attack, as the team looks to bounce back in the third and decisive T20 international, on Sunday.
The Windies took the opening match of the series with a comfortable four-wicket win, with 41 balls remaining. On Friday, however, Sri Lanka came roaring back to claim the second match after a star performance from the team’s spinners.
Lakshan Sandakan and Wanidu Hasaranga proved particularly hard to negotiate, each claiming three wickets, with Sandakan boasting a miserly economy rate of 2.73. In pursuit of Sri Lanka’s 160 for 6, the Windies were restricted before being bundled out of 116. Things had not gone smoothly against the spin in the first match, despite the result, with Akila Danajaya claiming a four-for, including a third over hat-trick before being taken apart by Windies captain Kieron Pollard who smashed 6 sixes off his over. The coach believes a similar approach could pay dividends in the decider.
“The key is playing them in the right way. You can’t be too tentative when you are playing against good spinners,” Simmons told members of the media via a Zoom press conference on Saturday.
“We have to still go out there and look to score against them and playing cricket how we know how to play cricket,” he added.
“All the guys who played IPL would have played against these spinners or even better spinners and done well, so that is what we have to make sure we do tomorrow.”
England 'in a strong place as a team', says Buttler after series-clinching West Indies win
Jos Buttler believes England are in a "strong place" after they edged past West Indies in St. Lucia, beating them by three wickets to claim a series-winning victory.
The tourists took an unassailable 3-0 lead in the five-match series, but had to rely heavily on luck during their 146-run chase, with Liam Livingstone dropped three times on the way to 39.
But it was England's bowlers who initially did the damage, with Saqib Mahmood putting in a player-of-the-match performance to finish with figures of 3-17, with his three wickets coming in the powerplay, in which the West Indies were skittled to 37-5.
Mahmood's three wickets came in the powerplay, in which the West Indies were skittled to 37-5. Mahmood was clearly delighted with the bowling performance after the match.
Captain Rovman Powell (54) helped the hosts recover, but they were ultimately unable to post a winning score and finished on 145-8.
It was not an easy ride for England, though, having initially slipped to 37-3 in their own powerplay, before Sam Curran knocked 41 off 26 balls to dig his side out of a hole.
It was left to Livingstone to finish the job, having been dropped twice by Nicholas Pooran on six and eight and again by Shimron Hetmyer on 21.
But England squeaked over the line with just four balls remaining, consolidating their lead in the series with just two matches remaining.
"[It was] a real collective effort to win the series, which is really pleasing. I've been so impressed with how we've set the tone in the powerplays in all three games so far," said captain Buttler.
"We're in a really strong place as a team. We've got really good competition for places too, when you consider the players who aren't here."
Mahmood's fast start was key to England's success on Thursday, and he was delighted with his personal performance after the match.
"As a bowling unit we've always had the mindset of wanting to take early wickets," he said.
"We know their batting line-up is stacked all the way down, but we haven't backed down, and we have taken powerplay wickets in every game so far.
"I feel really free in this team now. It feels like my spot, and it feels like a really great chance to express myself out there."
West Indies captain Rovman Powell, meanwhile, was clear where his side need to tighten up.
"It's a bit disappointing, we keep losing wickets in the powerplay and in clusters. We need to be our natural selves," he said.
"We know we are stroke players and come out aggressively but that little element of being smart was missing."
West Indies batting falls short yet again as England secures series win in St. Lucia
The West Indies had a batting performance to forget as England secured an unassailable 3-0 lead in their five-match T20I series with a three-wicket win at the Daren Sammy Cricket Stadium in Gros Islet on Thursday.
The hosts made a sub-par 145-8 from their 20 overs after being put in to bat. For the second match in a row, the West Indies quickly found themselves on the back foot with the wickets of Shai Hope (4), Evin Lewis (3), Nicholas Pooran (7), Roston Chase (7) and Shimron Hetmyer (2) leaving them 37-5 in the sixth over.
Captain Rovman Powell and Romario Shepherd steadied the ship somewhat with a 73-run sixth wicket partnership before Shepherd fell for 30 at the start of the 16th over.
Powell eventually made a top score of 54 odd 41 balls while Alzarri Joseph provided some valuable lower-order runs with 21*.
Saqib Mahmood continued his excellent form with the ball in the series with 3-17 from his four overs while Jamie Overton was also brilliant, taking 3-20 from his four.
England then reached 149-7 with four balls to spare to secure the win and a series victory.
Sam Curran led the way with 41 while Liam Livingstone and Will Jacks made 39 and 32, respectively.
Akeal Hosein bowled excellently despite the loss with 4-22 from his four overs.
The fourth T20I will take place at the same venue on Saturday.
West Indies Women to tour India for three ODIs and three T20Is in December
The West Indies Women will be in action next month when they tour India from December 15-27.
The series, part of the 2022-2025 Future Tours Programme (FTP), will see the Windies taking on India in three T20Is and three ODIs in Navi Mumbai and Vadodara.
The T20Is are scheduled for December 15, 17 and 19 followed by the ODIs on December 22, 24 and 27.
This will be a valuable experience for the regional side in conditions they should experience at next year’s ODI World Cup in India.
West Indies last played a white-ball series in India eight years ago, winning the T20I series 3-0 before losing the ODIs 0-3.
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