West Indies have struggled to get going in the middle overs in T20 International cricket.
Proof's in the pudding
Taking the 5-match T20 series between West Indies and England hosted by the West Indies in early 2022 as the sample, it is clear that West Indies struggled to get a move on in the middle overs, particularly, against quality spinners Moeen Ali and Adil Rashid.
To begin with, here are the stats on which this observation is based upon:
WI in middle overs (7-15) in 2022 1st T20I vs Eng: 48/1 (RR 5.33)
2nd T20I vs Eng: 65/5 (7.22)
3rd T20I vs Eng: 99/0 (11.00)
4th T20I vs Eng: 63/4 (7.00)
5th T20I vs Eng: 47/5 (5.22)
Pollard, a relieved man Despite that, WI won the series and captain Kieron Pollard was delighted with the effort.
"It's wonderful, many have given up on this team, but every single individual has rallied around, there have been a lot of negative things written about us, but this win is for everyone out in the dressing room. They have worked tirelessly coming from Jamaica (after the Ireland series), and have bounced back pretty well. We now have an understanding as to how to get the game going, we have come close to winning several times before, but came short at times. We have learnt from all these things."
"This was a virtual final, so runs on the board are crucial, whatever we get, we can add 10-15 runs tagged to the pressure. We started well, did stall in the middle, but I thought we did well in the last four overs. The guys came out, everything we tried came off pretty well, Akeal at the start and spinners in the middle. I thought Brandon (King) had a great series, you can't keep Holder out of the game, Akeal was good and so was Odean, despite what has been written about him. His three overs at the top was crucial - as I said before, was a complete team effort."
Bagging the series It was a hard-fought series with West Indies winning the first T20 International by 9 wickets, after which England came back to win the second match by just one run.
England won the 4th T20 International but West Indies won the 3rd and the 5th one by 20 runs and 17 runs -- quite comprehensive, one has to say -- to take the series 3-2.
