By Avenash Ramzan
West Indies skipper Kieron Pollard is not too keen on dwelling much on his side’s humiliating start to the ICC Men’s World T20.
At least that’s his public position on the Caribbean side’s embarrassing performance in the Group One clash featuring the 2016 finalists.
“Bin it and move on,” he said at the post-match press conference after the defending champions were bundled out for 55 and England won by six wickets with 70 balls remaining.
Prior to Saturday, England had never beaten West Indies in five World T20 matches, but Eion Morgan’s men bucked the trend in emphatic fashion.
“It’s plain to see; obviously we didn’t bat well. Disappointing to start the tournament like that, being defending champions,” Pollard reckoned.
“Having said that, it’s something we just need to accept. We accept and we take full responsibility for what transpired out there. Games like these you try to bin it as quickly as possible and you move on.”
He added: “It is very, very important that a game like this we sort of forget. You try to dig too much into it then you might be unearthing some things that you don’t really want to, so for us it’s pretty simple: accept and move on.”
Off-spinner Moeen Ali pegged West Indies back early with two wickets, and by the time the Powerplay had ended, West Indies were in tatters at 31-4, a phase that included 25 dot balls.
England went on a rampage thereafter, plucking out the next six wickets for 24 runs in 8.2 overs, with Rashid returning outstanding figures of 4-2 off 2.2 overs.
Dwayne Bravo (5), Nicholas Pooran (1), Kieron Pollard (6), Andre Russell (0), Obed McCoy (0) and Ravi Rampaul (3) were all dismissed cheaply, as West Indies faced an astonishing 59 dot balls.
Ali ended with 2-17 off four overs; left-arm seamer Tymal Mills took 2-17, while Chris Jordan and Chris Woakes had 1-7 and 1-12 respectively.
“For us, we have a plan how we want to plan this game, but it didn’t come off today. We didn’t play well; we didn’t bat well,” Pollard added.
Opener Jos Buttler then guided England to victory in 8.2 overs, ending on 24* off 22, but West Indies did make inroads, led by the impressive Akeal Hosein.
The left-arm spinner, who came in as a replacement for the injured Fabian Allen, took 2-24 off four overs bowling in the Powerplay, including a stunning return catch to dismiss Liam Livingstone.
England, with the win, go top of Group One. They next face Bangladesh on Wednesday from 06:00h, while West Indies are up against South Africa on Tuesday from 06:00h at the same venue.
