Hope: ‘We can go home with our heads held high’

KOLKATA, India (CMC):

Despite failing in their bid to reach the semi-final of the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup, West Indies captain Shai Hope believes his team performed admirably throughout the tournament and can leave with their heads held high.

Needing to defeat India on Sunday to advance to their first T20 World Cup semi-final in over a decade, the West Indies went down by five wickets in a thrilling contest at Eden Gardens that was decided in the final over of the match.

It was a disappointing end for the Windies, who won their first five matches of the tournament in convincing fashion, before consecutive losses to South Africa and India saw them being eliminated.

Among those wins was a record total of 254 for six against Zimbabwe, the highest ever by a West Indies team at a T20 World Cup and third-highest in history.

There were also impressive individual performances, with Shimron Hetmyer being the fourth-highest run scorer in the competition with 248 runs at an average of 41.33 as of Sunday.

He also broke the record for the most sixes at a T20 World Cup, having cleared the boundary ropes 19 times.

Hope scored 217 runs at an average of 36.17, while Sherfane Rutherford’s 183 runs in his seven innings came at a stunning average of 61.

In the bowling department, Gudakesh Motie and Jason Holder finished with 10 wickets apiece to be 10th- and 13th-best, respectively, while Matthew Forde’s economy rate of 6.25 was eighth-best among bowlers.

Romario Shepherd also became the first West Indian to take a hat-trick at a T20 World Cup.

Speaking in a post-match press conference, Hope admitted that while the team was disappointed not to have progressed further in the tournament, he said they had nothing to be ashamed of.

“I thought our bowling was a lot better than previous series, and this is really when you want it to stand out. The bowling, especially in the Powerplay, was really good. I think we had 38 wickets out of 40 in the group stages, so that was amazing in T20 cricket.

“And then from a batting standpoint, Shimron Hetmyer coming in at number three and doing what he does best, a lot of the batters coming in and contributing to those bigger totals that we got in this tournament. I thought the fielding was okay in patches, but again, we still have many areas that we can improve,” Hope said.

“There’s always positives we can take away, so let’s leave on the positives. Hetty played a really good tournament, Matthew Forde with the new ball, Akeal [Hosein] and Motie taking wickets, Sheppy [Romario Shepherd] with a hat-trick and a fiver.

“I thought the guys represented the region well, and I think we all can go home with our heads held high,” the skipper added.