Fast bowler Kemar Roach insists that West Indies have a bright future despite their elimination from ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup 2019 following their 125-run defeat by India. Roach, 30, was the pick of the Windies bowlers at Old Trafford, taking 3/36, including the big wicket of opener Rohit Sharma.
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Speaking after his side’s fifth defeat from seven games, Roach said: “We have to look at ourselves deeply and move forward. We’re out now but there’s a future for us.
“We’re still learning and there’s a couple of young guys in the team who have great futures. We have some quality players around like Shimron Hetmyer and Oshane Thomas. Once they get good guidance they will do well for West Indies.
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“I will always be a fan of West Indies cricket. There are some more players back home and hopefully you’ll see them filter into the side in the near future.”
Roach defended the decision to use up his and captain Jason Holder’s quota of overs well before the end of the Indian innings.
India’s total of 268/7 was short of where they seemed to be heading after the second-wicket stand of 69 between KL Rahul and Virat Kohli.
But the Windies never got close and lost their last seven wickets for 63 runs in 14 overs.
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Roach said: “I trust Jason as skipper. He’s been a good skipper for us the last couple of years and of course it was early that we had both bowled out.
“But you want to get stuck into the Indian middle order as early as possible. It was a slow pitch. It was all about being consistent with the ball and bowling good areas.
“I was in good rhythm and bowled pretty well. I was proud of my figures and being economical. Jason also bowled well – in fact all the bowlers did well.
“We did a pretty good job of restricting them to 268, which I thought was a below-par total. But India are a tough team. They’re smart and they know what they’re doing.
“Playing against them is an eye opener – you have to be very sharp. They have a quality batting line-up with world-class players.”
Roach has played only three of West Indies’ seven matches so far in the tournament and had no explanation for his side’s disappointing showing following their victory over Pakistan at Trent Bridge in the second match of ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup 2019.
He said: “It’s tough to say. The guys were very confident after the start against Pakistan but then we had a couple of close games against Australia and New Zealand.
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"You want to get over the line and get some confidence.”
(Inputs from ICC)
