King not pleased by Windies

Bennett King © Getty Images

West Indies coach Bennett King was unimpressed with his side’s six-wicket win over Zimbabwe despite the fact it booked their place in the Super Eight stage.

The hosts made heavy weather of a victory target of 203, winning with just 13 balls remaining.

“That was a scrappy win,” said King.

“I’m glad that we fought it out nice and hard to get the points but the pitch showed that if you got in, you really needed to knuckle down, work hard and continue on.

“It took people a little bit of time to get in once they started, and we didn’t do that very well.”

The win followed a 54-run triumph over Pakistan in the World Cup opener a week ago at the same Sabina Park venue and catapulted West Indies to the top of the group with a maximum four points.

West Indies however, allowed Zimbabwe to wriggle free from a wobble at 59 for four to post a respectable 202 for five from their 50 overs.

“We certainly didn’t bowl as well as we bowled the other day against Pakistan,” King added.

“The wides were still a concern. We bowled too many of them,” King said.

“We probably should have been looking at a target of 150 to 170. We’ve still got some work to do on those middle overs. We found it hard to get some wickets there.”

Zimbabwe captain Prosper Utseya was, however, encouraged by the way his side ran West Indies close.

“We were trying for a win to put us in a better position to reach the Super Eight but I thought the guys fought well which was good, so we will have to get it in our next game,” he said.

“We lost too many early wickets, and it was kind of tough on the batsmen coming lower down the order to have a go, and try to get a larger total.

“If we had lost a few more wickets, we probably would not have gotten to 200.”

Zimbabwe, who had the consolation of boasting of the man of the match in left-hander Sean Williams after his unbeaten 70, face Pakistan on Wednesday, two days before West Indies and Ireland complete the group phase.