West Indies hoping to cross line in final New Zealand ODI

The West Indies suffered a 2-0 One Day International (ODI) series defeat against New Zealand. Both 50-over games, like some of the T20 matches, came down to the wire, but the West Indies failed to win critical moments.
Shai Hope and his side will be hoping for a consolation win in the final ODI, which bowls off today, Friday, November 21, in Hamilton, New Zealand. According to Hope, it’s only a matter of time before the West Indies cross the line and start winning games.
The captain, who scored a century in vain, said he was hoping that his knock was enough for a win.
“I always look at it this way – I got, what, 109 or 110? Still not enough. I needed 120 or 130 for us to win. That’s how I see it. It’s always good to give the team the best possible chance of winning. I always look internally to see if there’s more I could have done. It was about putting pressure on them, not letting them settle, especially in these conditions. If they get on top of you, it becomes hard work, particularly at the back end. I felt I needed to bring some impetus to the innings and give us the best chance of defending the score. Everyone knows by now – I love to win. Whether I score hundreds or fifties doesn’t matter. I’d rather score two and we win than get a hundred and lose. That’s how I see the game,” Hope said.
Hope, who now has 19 ODI centuries and has scored against each Test-playing nation, said he always tries to keep improving his game. The right-handed Hope is behind Chris Gayle, who has 25 ODI centuries for the West Indies. “I just try to find ways to keep improving and give my team the best chance possible. I was just trying to maximise the last few overs. It worked out that I got the strike and managed to get away a couple at the end. Honestly, I thought it was enough. But clearly, it wasn’t. There are always areas you can improve, maybe scoring a few more off those dot balls early on, putting more pressure on during the powerplay. But hindsight is perfect, and it’s easy to talk after the game,” Hope said.
Reflecting on the bowling department, he explained that the bowlers leaked too many runs in the middle phase. “In the bowling department, I think we went off the boil a bit in the middle overs, allowing them to hit too square on the shorter boundaries. We didn’t force them down the ground as much as we wanted and probably lost our plan in that period. He (Shepherd) is one of those bowlers who can come in and grab a wicket. But he’s been having hamstring issues that flare up now and then. We still have quality bowlers to get the job done, though. Even without him, the others felt they were capable. It just didn’t happen for us today; we should have closed out a few key moments.”
The WI captain also highlighted once more that the New Zealand conditions are new to most of the players.
“Like we’ve said, when you look at it closely, we’ve come to New Zealand with most of the guys playing here for the first time in these foreign conditions, and we’ve still managed to push every game right to the back end. There have been, what, four close games now? Pretty much all decided in the last over. So, you come here, you put yourself in positions to win, and it’s only a matter of time before you cross that line. It’s just unfortunate we’re not doing it right now. But we’ve got to find a way to get over that line, because if we want to be a great team, we have to keep winning against the best. That’s what we need to focus on moving forward.”
The first ball of the final ODI is set to bowl off at 21:00h local time.