Hope critical of West Indies batters after opening ODI defeat

The West Indies side continue to lose matches after being in winning positions. West Indies lost the opening One-Day International (ODI) against New Zealand by a slim seven runs.
Chasing a target of 270 in 50 overs, West Indies managed 262-6 from 50 overs. Captain Shai Hope was critical of his batters saying they need to “step up”.
“Yeah, you said it was a tight one, but we keep putting ourselves in positions to win. So, I must take the positive from that. But for being very, very critical, the batters need to step up a bit more, especially at the top. Myself included, I got out at a very crucial time there,” Hope explained.
While Hope was critical of his batsmen, he credited his bowling group for the fight they showed to restrict New Zealand under 300.
“But still, credit must be given to the bowlers for the fight they showed. Yeah, well, I messed that one up a bit. But, yeah, he (Chase) was very, very, very economical today. Didn’t get as much spin as he would like, you know, in normal conditions. But he played his part today. He made it a lot easier for us in the back end to defend that score we were looking at. But credit must be given to him and all the other bowlers for chipping in,” Hope said at the post-match interview.
New Zealand showed they were the better team acclimatising to conditions, yet again.
“They certainly used that big boundary. I’ve never seen a boundary that big in New Zealand before. It’s just something to look at. Hopefully, the next condition that we play in might be a little bit more even. But, yeah, we just need to look at the ways we can negate those short balls. You see, it’s a clear plan. It’s something that we need to look at in the next couple of days,” Hope added.
Meanwhile, New Zealand Captain Mitch Santner also credited his bowlers for keeping the pressure on during West Indies’ chase.
“Making a habit of it, aren’t we? Yeah, no, I think at the turn, I guess, we were reasonably happy with the way we got to the score. I thought the bowlers were outstanding again. Didn’t get the wickets up front, but I thought we squeezed a lot through the middle. And made it tough for them at the end. And we know how much power they have at the end, and they showed that again,” Santner explained.
The Black Caps skipper credited Daryl Mitchell, describing him as the crisis man.
“Yeah, he’s (Mitchell) a man for a crisis, isn’t he? Yeah, he played extremely well, obviously, on one leg at the end. To still get over the boundary, or at the end, to get us up to a good score with Zachy (Foulkes) there. Some great partnerships throughout that innings. Yeah, I thought we did pretty well to get to that score, and we were reasonably happy at the turn. Yeah, I think we were smart.”
“Like Shai said, obviously, the wind made our plans pretty simple, which is try and hit to the big side. Yeah, it made them take tough options. I think it was still a pretty good wicket. The odd one played a little bit of a trick, but I think we did pretty well to close it out, to be fair.  I just think, obviously, the dimensions of the ground. I mean, you get to Napier, and it’s probably a 50-metre square boundary. You’re probably not going to bounce too many people out. But, yeah, I think, obviously, with the wind as well, and trying to use the surface, because it was a little bit up and down, so I think that was our thinking, anyway,” Santander concluded.
The second ODI is set for Tuesday, November 18 in Napier, New Zealand, at 09:00h local time. (Brandon Corlette)