On Saturday, West Indies captain Shai Hope questioned the attitude of his players after the team’s humiliating exit from the race to qualify for the upcoming ODI World Cup 2023, which is scheduled to take place later this year.
Yes, this will be for the first time in 48 years that the two-time former World Cup champions will not feature in the 50-over World Cup. The team who once dominated the cricket world, was eliminated after their seven-wicket loss to Scotland in a Super Six match on Sunday.
Captain Shai Hope Questioned His Team’s Attitude
Meanwhile, after the defeat, speaking to the broadcaster Shai Hope slammed the team for producing a dismal show both with the bat and the ball. He also questioned the attitude and preparedness of his players. He said:
“To be honest, it’s not one thing I can put my finger on. We certainly let ourselves down in the tournament,”
“It really has to do with the attitude. The fielding is an attitude according to me, catches will be dropped and misfields will happen, that’s a part of the game and I feel that we did not give 100 per cent effort every time, we did it in patches.”
“It starts with the foundation — from back home, the preparation needs to be better. We cannot come here and expect to be an elite team without preparation. You can’t expect to wake up one morning and be a great team,”
Hope himself had a decent tournament with the bat. The West Indies captain said that the team needed to relook their game plan. He said:
“We need to look at how we start our innings definitely,”
“We knew it would be challenging. The toss is always crucial but we need to find a way to counter that early movement. Every single captain who wins the toss here decides to bowl first and we needed to counter that early morning moisture. We need to give the West Indian fans something to cheer about.”
Shai Hope said that the West Indies cricket team would now look to make the most of the two games here, which are going to be dead rubber since the team is already out of the race to qualify for the ODI World Cup 2023 in India.
Hope said, “We have two more games and we need to find a way to bounce back. The talent is there, I always believe that, but we need to translate that into consistent performances.”
However, Hope also feels that it will take more time for the players to understand each other. He said:
“We have to understand each other even more and we have to go one way and that’s up,“
