West Indies captain Chris Gayle has bemoaned Sunday's batting flop that resulted in their huge loss to Australia in the first One-Day International (ODI) and pledged to fight back in the second game.
Replying to Australia's total of 256 for eight off 50 overs, West Indies gathered a mere 143 all out in 34.2 overs at the MCG as the home side marched into a 1�0 lead in the five-match series.
"This is a terrible batting display to be honest," Gayle said.
It was a disappointing start to the five-match series and Gayle said the team will have to rebound well in the second match at the Adelaide Oval today (Monday night). "We'll bounce back," Gayle said after the match. "It's definitely not the kind of start we wanted in this series, but having said that the damage is done so it's back to square one. We're looking forward to Adelaide and getting back into the series as quickly as possible."
In Sunday's match, West Indies stumbled to 12 for three in the fifth over as they began their run chase for 257. "We lost three early wickets and that set us back. That makes it difficult to play catch-up cricket in a 50-over game," he added. Gayle fell for only seven � caught at mid-off as he top-edged an attempted pull shot off Doug Bollinger � in the third over. Ryan Harris then had Gayle's opening partner Runako Morton (3) caught behind at 12 for two and without addition to the score, Travis Dowlin (1) fell to Bollinger.
Kieron Pollard (31), Lendl Simmons (29), and Narsingh Deonarine (19) gave mild resistance in the middle order and wicket-keeper Denesh Ramdin scored a brisk 17 as the only players getting to double-figures for the Windies. "The start was very important and we didn't get the (good) start. We thought the target was gettable and we fell way short," Gayle said. "A lot of credit must go to our bowlers but the worry today was the batting," Gayle declared.
