Hooper unhappy with West Indies batting

West Indian captain Carl Hooper has criticised his team's batting performance in their seven-wicket loss to a Zimbabwe Country Districts XI.

Hooper won the toss and elected to bat, and then watched with growing anxiety as the team slumped to 29 for four on Wednesday.

Only 34 from Hooper and 84 from Shivnarine Chanderpaul saved West Indies from total embarrassment as they managed to post 206 for nine in their allotted 50 overs.

"I'm very disappointed, I suppose we underestimated the opposition a little," said Hooper.

"The batsmen showed very little application and patience and generally it was a poor performance.

"We've had problems in recent years with our batting but I don't think it's any reason to panic at this stage.

"You are always going to have a bad game on tour and hopefully this was it."

The standard of the opposition should have posed little problems for a West Indian team loaded with seasoned professionals.

The Zimbabwe Country Districts were spearheaded by former test bowler Eddo Brandes and hard hitting opener Andy Waller, who has one-day international experience.

LITTLE PREPARATION

There were several other players with international experience such as Gavin Rennie, Gary Brent and Craig Evans, but it was a side thrown together with little preparation.

The West Indies play Zimbabwe on Saturday in the first match of a triangular one-day series also featuring India and will need to lift their game several notches to avoid a similar thrashing.

"We are not underestimating Zimbabwe at all," Hooper said. "Especially given what happened against the Country Districts team.

"But I don't think we are going to do anything dramatic and I think the batting line-up will stay pretty much the same.

Manager Ricky Skerritt was also critical of his team's performance.

"This is not an easy tour, but the guys were over-confident and showed no patience and professionalism,"said Skerritt.

"We made it impossible for ourselves and did not adapt to the conditions which became easier as the day went on.

"Scoring 206 was never enough because by the time we bowled the pitch was flat.

"This is a young and inexperienced team but we are going to battle to get a good rhythm going heading into the first one day international.

"We came out of the South African series by winning the last one-day international but we've lost some of that momentum now.

"We are expecting a tough fight on this tour."

The West Indies lost the seven-match one-day series to South Africa 5-2 and the test series 2-1.

Mail Cricket Editor