Roger Harper admits West Indies confidence needs a boost
West Indies face an uphill battle to restore the confidence needed to fend off England in the remaining Cornhill Tests after being knocked out of the NatWest Series by Zimbabwe at Chester Le Street today
Kate Laven
16-Jul-2000
Andy Flower - we were never out of it
West Indies face an uphill battle to restore the confidence needed to fend
off England in the remaining Cornhill Tests after being knocked out of the
NatWest Series by Zimbabwe at Chester Le Street today.
Shaun Botterill / AllSport |
After a thrilling match, which swung firmly in Zimbabwe's favour in the
penultimate over after a record partnership of 183 between Murray Goodwin
and Grant Flower to take them past the 288 target, West Indies coach Roger
Harper admitted confidence among his players needed a boost.
"Since the Lord's Test we have lost a few games and this one was very
damaging. It's difficult to judge the morale of the team at the moment.
"We will have to see what it's like in a couple of days. We have to pick
ourselves up.
"It will be a real challenge for us and The Management team to really get
the guys back on track and get them back where we think they need to be.
It's important to get back to winning and raise the confidence of the team."
"Having got to 287 you would have thought it was a total you were capable of
defending. It was very, very disappointing. I don't think we bowled as well
as we should have.
"We didn't get the ball in the right place when it mattered and Zimbabwe
batted well, especially that last partnership between Goodwin and Flower.
"It was the type of game where you had to see it through to the end - I
don't think at any stage did we think it was won. With eight or nine overs
to go we knew it was going to be very close."
© CricInfo |
Andy Flower - West Indies will come back hard in Test Match series
Captain Andy Flower said: "We never thought we were out of it because it was
a very good pitch. I still thought it was possible when we needed 90 off 10
overs.
"We still had wickets in hand, at least one of the batsmen was going to bat
through and they only had only three specialists bowlers.
"Grant Flower hit the ball cleanly, he was superb. We've never chased a
total to win like that before.
"It was a blow for West Indies to lose defending a big total. The Test
series is the most important thing for them and I'm sure they'll be focusing
on that and they will come back hard."
© CricInfo |
Goodwin - I quit: there's no going back
England are tough proposition for us at Lord's
England are tough proposition for us at Lord's
Man-of-the-match Goodwin, who made an unbeaten 112, has announced he will be
quitting Zimbabwe cricket after this tour of England to return to Western
Australia, where he began his professional cricketing career.
Despite Zimbabwe's success and the prospect of a win in the NatWest Series
final against England on Saturday at Lord's, Goodwin says there is no going
back on his decision.
"It's going to be tough against England in the final. I actually think
England are playing the most consistent cricket of the tournament at the
moment."
"The guys have been on at me about leaving international cricket but I've
made my decision and I don't want to go back on it."