WEST Indies captain Kieron Pollard refrained from pointing fingers at opening batsman Lendl Simmons who soaked up deliveries in a painstakingly slow innings of 16 off 35 balls in an eight-wicket loss to South Africa in the International Cricket Council T20 World Cup in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, on Tuesday.

West Indies have now started the tournament with back-to-back losses after falling to England by six wickets in their opening match, on Saturday. In the opening match, West Indies were dismissed for 55 in 14.2 overs.

West Indies will have to win their remaining three matches in the preliminary phase to have a chance of advancing to the semifinals.

“These things happen; yes, he (Simmons) got stuck,” Pollard said after the match.

Pollard added he will not “throw team-mates under the bus.”

Read more at the T&T Newsday 

In reply to CaribbeanCricket.com
At this time I believe we are technically knocked out although there is still plenty cricket to be played. I understand Pollard protecting Simmons’s and I also understand those that criticize Simmons. Although he was slow yet along with Lewis that was on fire they ensured that we didn’t get bowled out for 55 again and they laid a good platform for a good score. It’s our middle order that failed us. But all in all I think we have been very unlucky because going back to the practice games we have never won the toss and so far, the team winning the toss usually win the game as they all tend to bowl first. Bangladesh was the first team to win the toss and batted against England today and it was a crushing defeat for them.

But would he have thrown another player not named Simmons from a different land?


Inquiring minds want to know

In reply to FuzzyWuzzy

different strokes or is it pokes for different folks,

In reply to Sylobaby

Simmons was perfect man. HE couldn't havre played any better

In reply to CaribbeanCricket.com

The whole team should be thrown under The bus

a good driver doh do that

In reply to Sylobaby
i think u got this all wrong this should not be about throwing anybody under the bus this is about management asking players to do things completely out of their comfort zone Simmons at this point of his carrier is not a grafter he does look at a few yes,but after that he goes almost for everything which for most part is right for him,because he is not quick between the wicket,i guess the plan was Lewis attack and Simmons hold which was wrong because not many WI batsmen can rotate strike this put Simmons completely out of his game(at times i think there is too muck thinking, need to just a-low players to play their game especially this WI team if u are going to go down doing it your way)

In reply to CaribbeanCricket.com

And I though he was talking bout Coach Simmons.

KMT!

In reply to Drapsey

Why should the blame be put on Simmons?.There are 11 men in the team.Apart from Lewis they all flopped.Including the most useless Hetmeyer the most annoying of all wid his dyed hair.The clown who is the darling and film star poster boy on this board...."Hetty"

In reply to Alan
The blame is totally on Simmons. The shoite he was out there doing put everybody off their game.
Everybody felt the pressure of Simmons not scoring and tried to swipe harder

In reply to bird

CHASE

In reply to brians_da_best

No Simmons wasn’t perfect and nobody was perfect. However we need to be objective in our criticisms. Simmons and Lewis had an opening partnership of 73 in 10.3 overs. That’s approximately 7 runs per over. Simmons played the chief anchor role while Lewis was the aggressor. At that time no one had a problem with Simmons. Lewis got out and Pooran continued the attack but he got out. Unfortunately Simmons got out three overs after Lewis. So how do I blame him? Unfortunately our middle order was not able to pick up the run rate man.

In reply to Sylobaby

Too many swipers in the middle order

In reply to Sylobaby

Do you realise that Simmons slow scoring put oressure on the other batsmen?

Just read all the reports on the game, everyone has laid into Simmons

He probably hasbthe slowest T20 innings ever in history

Stop defending this shite

In reply to brians_da_best No. I am not defending Simmons because I am very upset with him and the entire team. However, will not blame him and accuse him of putting pressure on the middle order. When he got out we were not in trouble and still had 7 overs with 7 wickets to launch a good attack but our middle order failed! So what do we say for our No Show against England? Simmons got out in the early part of 3rd over. Our middle order was left with 13.4 overs and 8 wickets to score at least 140. But they only added 47/8. Agains SA they again added about 53/7. So is not just a Simmons problem but rather a failed middle order

In reply to brians_da_best After the first match I said I would drop Simmons and open with Chris and bat Chase at # 3. So it’s not true to say I am defending Simmons

In reply to Sylobaby

Simmons batted till the 14th over… followed by Gayle, Pollard, Russell and Hetmyer at number 7 in the 19th over. What is the cricket logic to be so extreme in changing of the batting order? I think the continued politics of cricket in WI is the continued pandemic!

In reply to brians_da_best

Agree.....

In reply to CaribbeanCricket.com

In reply to bird