West Indies captain Jason Holder has defended his team's decision to go out for some clay target shooting on Friday, ahead of his team's crucial World Cup clash against New Zealand at Old Trafford, in Manchester, England, Saturday.
The West Indies team did not train on the eve of the match yesterday, choosing instead to do some clay target shooting.
Asked why they decided to do this given that it was the day before a must-win match against New Zealand for his team, Holder said: "We had a team event. We wanted to get the guys together, just have a team event, a team bonding session. And I think it went really well."
Asked whether his team had given up on their chances at reaching the semi-finals of the tournament, he said: "I think the only thing we can do is come and play a solid game of cricket tomorrow (today) against New Zealand.
"I think there's been enough talk going around for quite some time. And we've just got to play cricket now. I think we've done enough talking as a group. It's just a matter for us to deliver."
Holder and his team will have to win their four remaining matches to have an outside chance of qualifying for the semis. They will have to get the better of New Zealand today, powerhouses India on Thursday and further on they will have to get past Sri Lanka, who upset favourites England yesterday and Afghanistan in their last match.
West Indies have not delivered since their opening game against Pakistan three weeks ago at Trent Bridge when they crushed the Asian side by seven wickets, after blasting them out for a paltry 105 with hostile fast bowling.
Since then, the Caribbean side has lost three of four matches as their strategy of aggressive short-pitched bowling has backfired. Not only that but their much-vaunted batting which piled up a mammoth 421 against New Zealand in a warm-up game in Bristol last month, has also failed to spark.