Windies captain says time to move on from ODI disappointment

As the West Indies prepare for the opening T20I against England here on Friday, new captain Shai Hope says the team cannot dwell on the disappointment of the preceding One Day International series where they were swept 3-0 by the hosts.

The West Indies’ performance in the ODI series was mainly underwhelming, which saw them being thumped by 238 runs in the opener, before losing by three wickets and seven wickets respectively in the remaining two matches.

However, Hope, who took over from Rovman Powell as T20 captain in March and will be leading the team for the first time in the format, has urged his troops not to dwell on the recently concluded series.

“I would just say that we need to adapt a bit quicker and assess the conditions and obviously play particular situations better.

“But it’s a different squad now and we have to put that ODI series behind us, take the learnings from it for sure and then look ahead,” Hope said in a pre-match press conference on Thursday.

“We’ve got a new captain, some experienced players coming back into the T20 side, so it’s a lot to look forward to. Yes, we will take the learnings from the ODI series, but our focus now is on the T20.”

The West Indies are ranked fifth in the world in the T20 rankings, two spots below England.

The last time the two teams met in a T20 series was in November, 2024, in the Caribbean, where the visitors emerged victorious 3-1 in the five-match series.

Hope said similarly to the ODI series, he expected England to come out firing on all cylinders.

“It’s important for us to know that England is one of those teams that’s always going to be coming at us and how we’re going to stop them is the biggest question,” he said.

“We have to make sure we’re on top of whatever they throw at us and make sure we’re ready for the challenge.”

While the West Indies will be without star batsman Nicholas Pooran, who is resting after taking part in the just concluded Indian Premier League (IPL), veterans Jason Holder and Andre Russell return to the squad.

Hope said the team will be boosted by the presence of the two world class cricketers.

“Jason and Russ are very experienced campaigners. They have done it all, all over the world and having both of them in the team it’s certainly going to be a big thing for us, having that experience, having that firepower.

“They bring a lot of knowledge to the team, so not just on the field, the conversations you will have off the field and the learnings you will get from those two mean a lot to the squad and it’s great to have them around. Any knowledge, any experiences they can share to help build us as a stronger unit will be taken on for sure,” Hope said.

(CMC)