Hooper PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad, CANA:
WEST Indies' captain Carl Hooper has dismissed suggestions the dry pitch at the Queen's Park Oval contributed to the regional side's 53-run loss to South Africa in the sixth Cable and Wireless one-day international on Saturday.
The woeful West Indies cricketers capitulated for a paltry 137, chasing a victory target of 191 runs on a pitch of unpredictable bounce where several balls kept low.
"Well, it wasn't the best track that we played on certainly in the six games, it wasn't poor by any means, the ball kept a bit low. South Africa went in and got 190 on it and we struggled to even get 150 on it," Hooper said.
"I don't think you can blame the wicket but it wasn't the best one-day wicket," added Hooper.
West Indies' coach Roger Harper also felt the pitch was not ideally suited to a limited overs international.
"It was not the most conducive to strokeplay, the batsmen struggled for fluency and the South Africans bowled very well," Harper said.
Despite an improved bowling display, Hooper maintains the West Indies have not bowled or batted well enough in the series.
"If you are not bowling and batting well enough, you are just not going to win games," Hooper said.
"The only thing which has probably been reasonable so far is the fielding. The batting and bowling have been poor to say the least," Hooper charged.
"Basically, what you are seeing now is players that are trying their best but just maybe not good enough for this level and that's a reflection of the state of West Indies' cricket at the moment," Hooper said.
Hooper again expressed disappointment with the team's overall performance.
"It is disappointing every time to set games up. Certainly the bowlers occasionally setting games up and then being unable to finish games off," Hooper remarked.
"We've got to continue to push. We can't throw in the towel and get negative and disillusioned. We've got to keep working hard and try to rectify all the areas we think that are giving us problems," Hooper said.
Harper attributed the Windies' downfall, chasing a relatively modest total to not pacing themselves in mid-innings.
"We achieved the point of not losing many wickets but we got ourselves into a situation where we were behind the rate and we needed one of the two batsmen at least to bat us through the innings.
"(Brian) Lara got run out and (Shivnarine) Chanderpaul fell shortly after which meant we had two new batsmen at the wicket having to get themselves in and the South Africans didn't offer us any easy scoring opportunities and I think the pressure just (took its) toll on the other guys," Harper noted.
Harper, who is also a member of the selection panel, chaired by former Test wicket-keeper Mike Findlay, conceded that the West Indies would love to have all-round cricketers, who are good in both departments, batting and bowling in both the Test and one-day side.
"Certainly, it would give us more depth but we looked at this and no player of that calibre jumped out at us," Harper said.
"We had Laurie Williams in Australia and while he made useful contributions with the ball, I don't think he really lived up to expectations with the bat," noted Harper.
"Ideally, we would love to have players who are capable of batting and bowling in our team," Harper added.
