Sport

Holder says West Indies batsmen must take responsibility after Australia loss

Strac takes five wickets after Coulter-Nile and Smith rescued Australian innings

Australia’s Mitchell Starc celebrates after taking his fifth wicket in the World Cup match against the West Indies at Trent Bridge. Photograph: Paul Ellis/AFP/Getty Images

Thu Jun 6 2019 - 21:37

At Trent Bridge: Australia 288 (49 ovs) (N Coulter-Nile 92, S Smith 73, A Carey 45; C Brathwaite 3-67, A Russell 2-41, S Cottrell 2-56, O Thomas 2-63), West Indies 273-9 (50 ovs) (S Hope 68, J Holder 51, N Pooran 40; M Starc 5-46, P Cummins 2-41). Australia won by 15 runs.

West Indies captain Jason Holder said his batsmen need to take more responsibility after they lost to Australia by 15 runs in the Cricket World Cup at Trent Bridge in Nottingham on Thursday.

Chasing 289 for victory, West Indies made a poor start before Shai Hope (68) and Nicholas Pooran (40) rebuilt the innings, but the Mitchell Starc-led Australian attack restricted them to 273-9.

“Guys just need to learn from the mistakes that they make,” Holder told reporters.

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“Take a little bit more responsibility, and chasing especially, you just need to take responsibility, and it’s important that one of the top four batters be there at the very, very end.”

Asked to bat on a flat pitch at Trent Bridge, champions Australia got off to a terrible start as they were reduced to 79 for five before Nathan Coulter-Nile (92) and Steve Smith (73) shared a 102-run stand for the seventh wicket.

That helped the Australians post a competitive total and they went on to secure their second win of the tournament.

“We definitely missed an opportunity,” Holder said. “It’s a bit disappointing to be losing a game like that when we’re in full control of the game, but these things happen.”

West Indies began their campaign strongly by crushing Pakistan thanks to hostile pace bowling.

“I just think we just need to be aggressive, continue to be aggressive, smart aggression, and just continue to look to take wickets,” Holder said.

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