Hope delighted with Shamar Joseph’s defence

West Indies Captain Shai Hope was a happy man after the West Indies had a consolation win against South Africa in the third T20 International (T20I). Despite the West Indies going down 2-1, Hope and his team took away a lot of learnings as they head into the T20 World Cup.
Hope expressed satisfaction with fast bowler Shamar Joseph, who defended 16 runs in the final over to help the Men in Maroon clinch victory.
“Shamar coming in for the first game and showing what he’s capable of doing. So, very happy to see those things. And like I said, we just got to continue from here,” Hope said.

The happy captain added: “I have to be very happy. Anytime you cross that line, the aim is to win games. So, it’s good to see the guys showing that fight for the last two games we played and coming out with a victory to finish (adapt and adjust to a curtailed game). First, I would say it is a lot more challenging setting totals, especially when you’re not sure what would be a good one. When you’ve got 10 wickets in hand, chasing a smaller total or a shortened game, I think the batting team would normally have an advantage batting second. But yeah, it just felt as though the guys, you know, started really well.”
The third T20I was affected by lightning, and the players were forced to leave the field several times.
“We actually gave ourselves a chance to understand, okay, this is what we need to do when we go back out. But it’s always challenging. It’s never easy stopping and starting. So, it’s good to see the guys show that focus when we came out there to play.”

Reflecting on the South Africa tour, Hope said it was all about fine-tuning.
“Like I said earlier, it’s more about fine-tuning. It’s good to see that we’ve been ticking more boxes now. It’s more so about just trying to find out that formula that would give us the best chance to go as deep and hopefully win the trophy in India. So, yeah, it’s good signs. So many things that we could look at,” Hope said.
Hope also highlighted the form of Shimron Hetmyer, who scored heavily at number three.
“Very good positives. It’s great to see Shimron Hetmyer back in the runs and doing it so consistently and very fluently as well. And bowlers hitting their straps. You see when we execute, the cricket looks a lot different. So, I’m very happy to see the strides that we’re making as a team and hope we can continue and continue growing as a strong team and go into the tournament on a high. (On the win) I think it’s necessary, especially from a bowling standpoint. We can’t really hide from the truth. We haven’t been hitting our straps as well as we would like to in the last couple of years. It’s good to see we found ourselves in a pressure situation like that and being able to execute,” Hope highlighted.
West Indies’ opening match at the tournament will see them face off against Scotland on February 7 at Eden Gardens, Kolkata, India.