Windies seek batting improvement to snap losing streak

Sun, Dec 31, '17

Six matches, six losses - the sorry tale of West Indies' cricket during the ongoing tour of New Zealand. Let it be the traditional format, the 50-over version or the 20-over format, the visitors just haven't been able to able to plug the losing streak. The 20-over version was regarded as West Indies' best chance to mount a challenge. The tourists are the defending World T20 Champions and over a period of time, have gained a reputation for their big-hitting prowess. Unfortunately, the Caribbean side slipped to a 47-run loss in the first of the three-match T20I series in Nelson on Friday (December 29). West Indies' disappointing performance could be capsulised by the fact that no one scored more than 27 runs.

The Caribbean side will hope to raise their game in the crucial second T20I at Bay Oval. One of the issues through the course of the tour for West Indies has been the lack of runs from the top-order batsmen. In the third ODI, Trent Boult and Matt Henry reduced West Indies to 9 for 5, while Seth Rance and Doug Bracewell ran through the visitors' batting line-up in the first T20I.