Chase ‘disappointed’ with WI batting display

WELLINGTON, New Zealand (CMC):

West Indies Test captain, Roston Chase has expressed his displeasure with his side’s woeful batting performance after they slumped to a nine-wicket defeat against New Zealand inside three days in the second Test here yesterday.

The Windies could only muster 205 in their first innings, before being routed for just 128 in their second innings, with only four batsmen making it into double figures and two scoring 25 or more.

Speaking during a post-match press conference, Chase said the unsatisfactory performance of the batters was especially disappointing considering the tremendous effort shown by the bowlers in restricting New Zealand to 278 in their first innings.

“I’m obviously disappointed. I thought we were in a good position up to this morning, even though in the first innings we thought that we should have gotten some more runs with a number of batsmen getting some starts, but we didn’t really convert (the scores) into anything big.

“We thought that we left some runs out there in the first innings and we thought that we would have gotten those runs in the second innings, but it didn’t happen, so I’m very disappointed for us after the bowlers really put up their hands and brought us back into the game,” Chase said.

The skipper said the team’s effort with the bat was especially disheartening, as it came just a few days after they scored a record 457 for six in their second innings in the first Test in Christchurch to earn a draw.

“A different game, different conditions, but I still thought the pitch was one that we could score runs on. Personally, I thought it was not as tough as the first game in Christchurch. I thought in the first innings in Christchurch the ball was doing a whole lot, but I didn’t think that was the case here.

“I just thought that we made some mistakes at some crucial points in the game and we just never really got our feet back into the game today,” Chase admitted.

Despite the result, Chase said the visitors would be going all out to win the third and final Test, which begins on December 18 at Mount Maunganui.

He maintained that the West Indies had the players and skills to be competitive against the home side.

“It was and always will be the motivation for this team to win a game in New Zealand. The last time we won was in 1995, so we want to leave here with a win.

“We came close in the first innings, and we still think that we are capable enough to get a win, but it’s just for the batting to be consistent, because the bowlers have shown that they are capable of getting us those 20 wickets that we need to get, so I think it’s just for the batting to come up to par,” Chase said.