T20 World Cup 2022: “We need to wake up and start being professional” - West Indies coach Phil Simmons slams batters for poor show against Scotland

West Indies head coach Phil Simmons has urged batters to wake up and get professional after the team’s loss to Scotland in a Group B match of the T20 World Cup 2022 on Monday, October 17.

In the second major upset in the ICC event in two days, Scotland thumped the Windies by 42 runs in Hobart. On Sunday, October 16, Namibia got the better of Sri Lanka by 55 runs in the tournament opener in Geelong.

Set to chase 161, West Indies were bundled out for 118 in 18.3 overs. Reflecting on the team’s batting effort, Simmons admitted that it was a disappointing one. He opined at the post-match press conference:

“I think our batting today was definitely a bit unprofessional. I think we need to wake up and start being as professional as we can be when we're batting. The bowlers seemed to be working hard and putting us in good positions but the batters continued to falter.”

On why West Indies seem to keep repeating the same mistakes over and over again, the coach conceded that he was clueless and said:

"I don't know. I haven't questioned the dressing room yet, let them calm down a little bit first, let myself calm down a little bit first.

"I think it was too many soft dismissals. I think as batsmen you have to pay a lot more attention to your wicket. Every time we play we're up there with the run-rate, doesn't matter who we are playing. But we keep losing wickets. So I think I've been trying to remedy that for the last couple of months but doesn't seem like it's there yet."

Chasing 161, West Indies got off to a good start and were 53/1 in the sixth over. However, things went awfully wrong for them from that point on and they slipped to 77/6 by the end of the 12th over. A number of batters perished looking to clear the bigger boundary. Admitting that the choice of strokes was questionable, Simmons commented:

"That's exactly it. You need to sum up the game and the situation of the game and play to the situation of the game. I don't think we did that all times today.”

Jason Holder top-scored for West Indies with 38 off 33. However, the game was all but decided by the time he walked to the crease.

---

“We need to beat Zimbabwe first, then we think about everything else” - West Indies coach

With this unexpected loss, the Windies now find themselves in a tricky position as far as qualification for the Super 12 is concerned. Their next game is against Zimbabwe, who will be high on confidence after getting the better of Ireland in the other Group B clash of the day.

Looking ahead, Simmons said:

"We need to beat Zimbabwe first, then we think about everything else. I think that's the first step. You have to think about the next game against Zimbabwe and how we have to beat Zimbabwe. it was last year that Bangladesh lost a close game and still ended up in the Super 12s. So we just have to think about Zimbabwe right now."

The West Indies-Zimbabwe T20 World Cup 2022 match will be played in Hobart on Wednesday, October 19.