West Indies looking to fix batting woes

– Mohammed to play Chase’s role

By Brandon Corlette

The West Indies outfit had no answers for the impressive Mitchell Starc and company in the series opener in Barbados during the first One Day International (ODI). Bouncing back will be key, and countering the Australian quicks will play a key role in deciding the encounter.
Kieron Pollard will expect a much more competitive performance from his batsmen, who won’t have much time to ponder their mistakes, due to a quick turnaround between the two matches. A victory would also be important for the Windies as they aim to climb up the CWCSL table.
Stand-in Aussie skipper Alex Carey, on the other hand, had a dream start to his career in captaining the Australian side; and Mitchell Starc and Josh Hazlewood were back to their devastating best with the ball.
Speaking in a virtual press conference on the eve of the match, Captain Pollard said his team would need to find a way to bounce back.
Reflecting on the batting collapse, Pollard said words cannot describe how poor the performance was. Pollard is also awaiting confirmation on the availability of Fabian Allen and Shai Hope, who missed the first ODI due to injuries.
“Each match is for points, it is what it is, and I thought Australia were better on the day, and hopefully we can bounce back and show some fight,” Pollard said.
During the post-match conference, Pollard said: “I think we did pretty well with the ball. Par score here is 260-270, and being able to restrict them to 250 was a fantastic effort. My biggest thing is I want the guys to fight. It’s a matter of continuing to work hard, understanding my game, understanding my strengths. Just a matter of trying to enjoy it.”
Meanwhile, Carey said: “For us to adapt and put the score on the board which we thought was competitive, and then the way the powerplay went for us was fantastic. Ashton played a crucial role. Probably haven’t seen a powerplay like that before. When they get it right, we know how damaging they are.”

Pollard on Mohammed
Jason Mohammed emerged as the leading run-scorer in the 2020-2021 Regional Super50 tournament, with 327 runs at a brilliant average of 81.75 with one century and one half-century. Mohammed’s Regional record has been supreme, hence his presence in the West Indies ODI team.
Responding to a question posted by this daily publication, Captain Pollard disclosed that Mohammed will play a similar role to Roston Chase, who is ruled out of this ODI series owing to an injury from which he is recovering.
The 34-year-old Mohammed failed to score a half-century since April 2017, but had the opportunity to bat on 22 more instances for West Indies in ODIs.
“We wanted him to play the same role as Chase played for us in ODI cricket recently, being able to bat in the top order once needed, and being able to bowl couple overs for us. Yes, he failed last night (first ODI), and he did not get enough opportunities in the Sri Lanka series,” Pollard said.
The West Indies captain added: “He was the top Super50 batsman. We tend to speak about getting guys from our system into the team, but when we do it and see it does not work for a couple games, we start to question certain things.”
Mohammed’s last 10 scores when he had an opportunity to bat for West Indies at the ODI level were: 02, 08, 13*, 17, 11, 17, 12, 10, 00, and 01. His bowling has been good, he being the leading wicket-taker in the Sri Lanka series earlier this year. In his last seven matches, he picked up eight wickets for the West Indies. Those eight wickets are all Mohammed has alongside his name in ODIs.
Overall, Mohammed played 35 ODIs and batted 30 times, scoring 619 runs. Despite his supreme performances at regional level, he has failed to dominate at International level, averaging 22.1 with the bat with four half-centuries.
The level-headed batsman will look to come good if given an opportunity in the remainder of the matches. West Indies and Australia will return to the same venue today (Thursday July 22) for the second CG Insurance ODI. First ball is 14:30h.