Hope defends Holder 

CMC – West Indies captain Shai Hope has defended his decision to give all-rounder Jason Holder the super-over, amidst criticism of team tactics during his side’s shock defeat to the Netherlands in the ICC World Cup Qualifiers on Monday.

After scores were tied at 374 in the Group A contest at the Takashinga Sports Club, the experienced Holder was on the receiving end of a hiding from Logan van Beek, the 31-year-old seamer sending down a poor over which yielded 30 runs.

van Beek then took the ball to lead the Dutch side’s defence of the total, inflicting West Indies with a second straight defeat following their loss to Zimbabwe last weekend.

“Hindsight is the best sight. Jason could’ve come and bowled the best over, bowled a maiden and we won the game,” Hope told reporters on Tuesday.
“But we have to look at way before that. You can’t pinpoint a super-over as the reason why we lost the game. We have to look at the factors leading up to that super-over.
“And again, anyone who I throw the ball to, they’re always going to give me 100 per cent and the general consensus was Jase said he was the man, we backed him [but] it just didn’t turn out for us, unfortunately, this time.”

He continued: “But it is a learning opportunity for us. We know that if Jase is put in that situation again, we’re backing him 120 per cent to deliver for us.

“It’s just how it goes. Unfortunately we came out on the losing end but they’re lessons to be learned.”

There were also question marks over Hope’s decision to hand off-spinner Roston Chase the ball for the penultimate over of the Netherlands run chase, with them needing 30 runs for victory.

Chase subsequently leaked 21 runs which left the Dutch with a relatively easy proposition in the final over.

Head coach Darren Sammy was quick to throw his support behind both Hope and Holder, stressing the entire team would learn from the experience.

“I have full trust in the captain. Whatever decisions are taken out there, he does it with the best interest of the team,” said Sammy.
“Obviously we back Jason all the time to deliver but obviously there is learning from every situation and I’m sure there is a lot of learning to be done after this game.”

West Indies will now enter the Super Six phase, needing to win all three of their fixtures in order to stand any chance of qualifying for the World Cup in India later this year.

And Hope said while the West Indies were definitely hurting, it was important they picked themselves up for the next phase of the tournament.

“Certainly there is going to be a lot of pain and hurt in the dressing room but we know there is still always a chance for us to move to the next step,” Hope explained.

“We’re always talking about communication amongst each other. The main thing now is to get the guys as uplifted as possible to make sure we get the best result going into the next game.”

West Indies face a tricky encounter against Scotland on Saturday before taking on minnows Oman on July 5 and Sri Lanka on July 7.

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