Image Credit- Getty
After England lost their fourth game in five against
the West Indies, Moeen Ali declared there were “no excuses” for their
previous actions.
After losing the ODI series 2-1, England lost by 10
runs in Grenada to trail 2-0 in the five-match T20I series.
Many of the more experienced players, like Chris
Woakes, Adil Rashid, and Moeen, rejoined the team after resting for the first
leg of the journey when the formats switched from ODIs to T20Is. However, two
games have resulted in two more losses, with England allowing winning positions
to slip in both meetings.
“Obviously disappointing because you want to
start winning with the World Cup around the corner in these conditions,”
Moeen said, with this series a de facto dress rehearsal for the T20 World Cup
that will take place in the Caribbean and USA in six months’ time.
“I thought a lot of the game we played well and
then they just smashed two big overs that probably just took the game away from
us a little bit…I hate saying there’s a few positives, but there are a few I
thought.”
Moeen was especially irritated by England’s incapacity
to overcome the spinners from the West Indies, Akeal Hosein and Gudakesh Motie,
who bowled eight straight overs of left-arm spin from the Pavilion End.
Following three powerplay bowls by Hosein, Motie completed his allotted amount
of bowls, and Hosein came back to complete his set when Motie was finished.
With Motie conceding just nine runs in his four overs, they combined for
figures of 3 for 33.
“They bowled really well obviously, they know
these conditions, but I still feel for Motie to go for nine off four overs is
not good enough from our point of view. At least, I think we can rotate a bit
more if we’re not going to take him down.”
“We’re not [able to] at the moment,” Moeen
said simply, when asked about England’s ability to grab the big moments of
matches. West Indies recovered from 54 for 4 in the second game, with England
having failed to capitalise on their third highest powerplay score of 77 in the
opening game. Instead they lost all ten wickets for 94.
“But there’s still a bit of time to go before the
World Cup and we need to get a few things right as a side.