West Indies have enjoyed a mixed bag of form in the ICC World Cup 2019 till now and Jason Holder’s side will be looking to bounce back when they take on South Africa in Southampton on Monday.
The Windies started their campaign with an impressive win over Pakistan but they were defeated by Australia in the following encounter. Australia, who were reeling at 79/5, recovered from the batting collapse to post 288 on the back of a match-winning knock by Nathan Coulter-Nile (92) and a valuable anchoring role by Steve Smith (73).
A brilliant bowling spell by left-arm pacer Mitchell Starc (5/46) was sufficient to ensure a 15-run victory for Australia – despite Shai Hope’s composed knock of 68.
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However, the match was without its fair share of controversies as umpires Chris Gaffaney and Ruchira Palliyaguruge overturned four of their decisions. Apart from that, Gaffaney also missed a front foot no-ball bowled by Starc which sent Chris Gayle back to the pavilion.
“I think I’ll just say I just found ourselves a bit unlucky to be on the other end of all the decisions. I guess honest mistakes from the umpires, I don’t want to get into the officiating part, but it’s just ironic. I don’t even know what to say about it, but it is a funny situation where all of them went against us, and then we had to review them, but I guess that’s part of the game again,” Holder said after the match.
{{/usCountry}}“I think I’ll just say I just found ourselves a bit unlucky to be on the other end of all the decisions. I guess honest mistakes from the umpires, I don’t want to get into the officiating part, but it’s just ironic. I don’t even know what to say about it, but it is a funny situation where all of them went against us, and then we had to review them, but I guess that’s part of the game again,” Holder said after the match.
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Against South Africa, West Indies will be looking to bolster their bowling attack some more and as a result, Kemar Roach can find a place in the playing XI. He will replace Carlos Brathwaite in the team and at the Rose Bowl in Southampton, Roach can turn out to be a huge asset for the Windies.
West Indies Predicted XI: Chris Gayle, Evin Lewis, Shai Hope, Shimron Hetmyer, Nicholas Pooran, Andre Russell, Jason Holder (c), Kemar Roach, Ashley Nurse, Sheldon Cottrell, Oshane Thomas
(With agency inputs)