West Indies, seen as being strong contenders for the T20 World Cup 2024, Powell had a close shave in their first game against Papua New Guinea (PNG), to clinch it with five wickets left.
Despite the victory, West Indies skipper Rovman Powell admitted that his side needed to improve all areas of its game.
Surpassing their initial expectations, PNG performed commendably and put up a spirited fight against relatively more favoured West Indies. Sese Bau anchored the PNG innings by constructing an impressive half-century whereas Kiplin Doriga played a vital unbeaten knock of 27 runs which added momentum to the innings late on. This helped PNG accumulate a decent score ending at 136/8.
West Indies’ batsmen found it difficult to score because of tight lines and lengths bowled by the PNG bowlers. Consequently, they were forced to work hard to get every run made them earn each run.
Powell acknowledged that PNG had outsmarted West Indies tactically: “Credit has to be give to PNG. I think their plans were simple and they played good cricket.”
However, he did admit that his bowling unit could have held PNG down even more: “I think it (the score of 136 for 8 by PNG) is probably just little ten or fifteen too much. And as a bowling group that’s something we need to work on. They played smartly.”
In the final over Alzarri Joseph picked up two but leaked two boundaries which proved costly whereas Gudakesh Motie was expensive in comparison with fellow spinners.
Roston Chase emerged as West Indies’ hero when he batted coolly during his innings under duress. His knock was well-paced and gradually gained momentum towards its end so as to take his team home victoriously. In all, Chase contributed an unbeaten 42 off just 27 balls with four boundaries plus two sixes.
Chase was highly commend by Powell for his all-round effort: “That was very good. Started from a bowling effort, I think he bowled pretty well. And coming at the end, when we were under pressure coming there with composure. And to come out with a winning innings was great for us.”
Nevertheless, Powell stated that despite winning they still needed to work more on their games as he put it that: “I think we can be better in all three departments.”
The West Indies will host Uganda in their next encounter at the Providence Stadium on June 9th. They hope to carry forward the momentum of the opening game and address areas highlighted by their skipper.
