Vice-captain Nicholas Pooran praises Akeal Hosein for special innings

…’Extremely dangerous’ West Indies team stacked with power-hitters

By Brandon Corlette in Barbados

England’s all-rounder Moeen Ali has described the West Indies team as extremely dangerous after the Caribbean team went down to their England counterparts by one wicket on Sunday in Bridgetown, Barbados.

Pooran has praised Hosein for a special innings

Akeal Hosein, whose feat of scoring a breathtaking 44 runs from 16 balls batting at number ten in the second match of the Betway T20I series dominated many headlines, reminded us all that the West Indies’ batting order is stacked with power- hitters despite the absence of some senior players.

Hosein and Shepherd played fighting, unbeaten knocks

Hosein, who struck four sixes and three fours, demonstrated that he is working hard on his batting, and West Indies vice-captain Nicholas Pooran had a similar opinion of Hosein’s efforts.

Akeal Hosein

“Akeal and Shepherd have been working really hard on their batting,” Pooran declared. “We know (that) in our team we have a long list of hitters. We saw something special from Akeal and Shepherd tonight. Kudos goes to them, they didn’t give up at all; but that goes to show the strength in our team.
“Tonight was their night. We lost the game by two runs [sic], but the next night someone else can turn up to the party. Not only tonight, but in the Ireland series, (Hosein) proved that he is a capable batsman, and tonight he struck the ball as good as anyone.
“We always give him some thunder that he’s batting #11 for us, but he keeps proving to us that he’s a batsman. I’m happy for him; he’s working really hard, not only as a bowler, but as a batsman as well,” Pooran said.
Odean Smith, who bowled one over for four runs in the opening T20 on Saturday, did not bowl in the second match. When asked if West Indies are playing an extra batsman, Pooran said: “He’s (Odean Smith) playing as a power-hitter. He is a special player, and we back him all the way to come out and execute his skills for us. In saying that, we have batsmen (whom) we know have to put (their) hands up and make runs in crucial positions and in crucial situations. At the end of the day, we back each and every one in our team here.
“We’re not playing Odean Smith as a bowler, he’s an all-rounder. he just played the Ireland series and batted really well as well. We back everyone in our team to play their role,” Pooran has said.
Pooran also said that captain Pollard, who used his change of pace to his advantage on the sticky surface, bowled really well. “The captain came on and bowled in crucial times, bowling crucial overs. In all honesty, he bowled an over yesterday, and today he wasn’t required. If you see the scores, Pollard bowled those four overs really well…”
Meanwhile, ‘player of the match’ in the second T20I, Moeen Ali, has said that despite some players having retired for the West Indies, the men in maroon remain a dangerous unit.
“Even though they were 50 [55] for 5, six or seven down for not many runs, they were never quite out of the game,” Moeen said. “They’re such a dangerous team. I know a lot of older players have retired and stuff, but they’ve got so much talent, so much power.
“The fact they bat all the way down to #10 makes them extremely dangerous, even in the situation where we thought we were going to cruise that game. For them to lose by one run, it’s actually quite scary. Their batting line-up is very scary,” Ali declared.
West Indies are a lowly-ranked T20I team, but they have showed great courage, something many fans are calling for. England, in contrast, are the top-ranked team, but the repercussions of losing the Ashes and not clinching the World T20 title continue to affect their display of dominance.