Reifer expects WI to turn around batting fortunes in Barbados

GEORGETOWN, Guyana—West Indies batting coach Floyd Reifer is confident that the regional side will put up a much-improved batting showing against New Zealand in the remaining two One Day Internationals at Kensington Oval. The West Indies’ batters were undone by the visitors’ spinners, led by Jayden Lennox, for the second straight match, to slump to a six-wicket defeat at Providence Stadium on Thursday. After winning the opening contest, the home side was skittled out for scores of 138 and 140 in the following two matches after being asked to bat first and now trail the five-match series 2-1.

Speaking in a post-match press conference on Thursday, Reifer said while the conditions in Guyana were challenging, there was no excuse for the Windies’ disappointing display with the bat. “Obviously the last two games we didn’t bat to the best of our ability, but the conditions were very challenging. Batting first in Guyana the toss is a major factor where we know the ball will spin, the pitch is slow and stuff like that, then on evenings you have the dew factor which is easier to bat.

“However, saying that, I still thought that we could have put up a better batting performance. If we had gotten anything past 200 or 210 runs, we would have made a game of it, but there is no excuse really for the batting performance that we displayed over the last couple of games,” Reifer admitted. He said based on the team’s batting performances over the past 18 months, and especially at home, he was confident there would be major improvements in the final two matches of the series in Barbados.