Hope insists it's only 'a matter of time' before positive Windies results

Despite finding themselves on the losing end of another closely contested encounter, West Indies captain Shai Hope has no doubt his team is on the right track. A brilliant hundred from Hope himself was not enough for the visitors, who went down to New Zealand by 5 wickets in the second One-Day International in Napier earlier on Wednesday. The victory also gave the hosts an unbeatable 2-0 lead, sealing the three-match series.  

“I think everyone knows this by now: I'm one who loves to win,” Hope said. “I'd rather score two and five and we win than score hundreds and we lose.”

He was, however, quick to point out that the West Indies have put themselves in “positions to win games” on the tour. Irrespective of the 3-1 result, the two sides were also separated by fine margins in the T20 International series. And according to Hope, the manner in which the West Indies have “pushed games” is a positive indicator.

“It's only a matter of time before [we] cross the line,” Hope insisted. 

Wednesday’s contest was reduced to 34-overs-a-side, following a 3-hour rain delay to the start of play. Having been inserted to bat, Hope smashed 109 from 69 balls to propel the Caribbean side to a commanding 247 for 9. Nathan Smith led the Kiwi attack with figures of 4 for 42. 

Now, despite Devon Conway (90) and Rachin Ravindra (56) putting on a better-than-a-run-a-ball 106-run opening stand, New Zealand found themselves stuttering at 194 for 5 in the 30th over. 

Before Captain Mitchell Santner performed another rescue act on the tour, scoring 34 from 15 balls in an unbroken 54-run sixth-wicket partnership with wicketkeeper Tom Latham (39). New Zealand got to victory at 248 for 5 with 3 deliveries to spare. 

After restricting New Zealand to just above a run-a-ball for 29 overs, the Caribbean side then conceded at nearly 10 runs per over (rpo) in the last five. Much like Jayden Seales in his pre-match comments, the Windies skipper also lamented his team’s execution with the ball. 

“I don't think we forced them to hit the ball down the ground as much as we wanted to,” Hope said. “And [we] probably lost the plot there in the middle.”

West Indies will be sweating on the fitness of Romario Shepherd ahead of the 3rd ODI as the Guyanese continues to struggle with a hamstring injury.