ST GEORGE'S– Manager of the West Indies A Team, Lockhart Sebastien, feels his team's opening One Day loss against Sri Lanka A at the Grenada National Stadium was due to 'overconfidence'.
The manager was speaking a day after the West Indies A fell to a four wicket defeat in St George's. After amassing 282/9 from their 50 overs, the West Indies A bowlers failed to stop the Sri Lanka A batsmen as the visitors scored 287/6 in 46.4 overs.
But according to Sebastien, it was just a case of overconfidence. He said, "We studied very well and we were very confident, maybe overconfident. Hence the reason why we lost. I think we should have made over 300 runs... and we just didn't bowl very well."
But Sebastien was left equally as shocked as to how friendly the pitch was towards batsmen. Opener Lendl Simmons struck 106 runs in a knock that included seven boundaries and two sixes. Kirk Edwards and Narsingh Deonarine were among the other five batsmen that struck half-centuries in the match. Sebastien, who played 92 First Class matches for the Windward Islands stated, "I've been with the Windward Islands team for the last ten years, maybe five years playing in Grenada and it's the first time I saw the pitch play so well. I mean it was a very good pitch. It was a 300-run pitch. We should have made 300. We lost our way in the middle of the inning. In fact, in the Powerplay I think we lost one wicket but we just did not capitalise on a very good start."
And it was mainly Simmons and Edwards that gave West Indies A that good start. Between them, both batsmen struck ten fours and seven sixes, but ran equally as well between the wickets. By the 30th over, the West Indies A were in pole position to double their score of 151/2, with Simmons on 75. Upon getting to his century though, Simmons would hold out to Lahiru Priyanjana at long-on. His innings was met with many plaudits from those in the stadium. Manager Sebastien though, feels he was the man to take West Indies A past 300. "He played extremely well. In fact, in St Vincent in the Twenty20, he played very well as well. I felt though that he should have gone on and he himself knows he should have gone on. But it was a fantastic inning and he set the stage for us," Sebastien said
Despite the gloom of not converting such a big score into a victory Sunday though, the West Indies A boys appeared positive and upbeat at yesterday's training session at the Grenada National Stadium. With two games to go, Sebastien believes this is no time to be looking backwards; "The mood was very sad yesterday. The players felt they let the team and the West Indies down... We can't dwell on the past though. It happened. We lost, but we have to forward. We are all excited about tomorrow and we are really looking forward for tomorrow [today]."
The manager has hinted at changes for the second One Day, and with both Sheldon Cottrell and Veerasammy Permaul available, a pacer and spinner may well have to make way for the second and ultimately definitive One Day. (WICB Web site)
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