West Indies coach praises batters’ intent but questions decision-making

Thu, Jan 18, '24

West Indies coach Andre Coley says it has been a pretty steep learning curve for some of his batters against Australia’s attack, but he believes they are still in the game despite staring down the barrel of a heavy defeat on a challenging pitch in Adelaide.

A spectacular century from Travis Head looms as the difference between the two sides as Australia posted a first-innings lead of 95, which was set to be a lot less after Shamar Joseph took five wickets on debut to put the hosts under extreme pressure.

But all that pressure evaporated when Josh Hazlewood ripped through West Indies’ top order again to claim 4 for 2 at one stage and have West Indies reeling at 19 for 4. They lost two more to be six down at stumps still 22 behind Australia.

Despite 26 wickets falling in two days, Coley did not think the pitch was overly challenging for the batters and instead lamented his side’s decision-making despite showing good intent.

“The learning curve has been pretty steep for some of them,” Coley said after play on day two. “But if they were to sit back and some of the feedback has been, it hasn’t been tremendously difficult. It has been testing.