Mumbai, February 12 Despite the defeat, England captain Harry Brook defended his batsmen, arguing that they were not easily susceptible to quality spin bowling, even though their weaknesses were clearly exposed in the 30-run loss to the West Indies in a Group C match of the T20 World Cup here.
Six England batsmen fell to spinners during the match, as England were all out for 166 in 19 overs in response to the West Indies' formidable 196/6 at the Wankhede Stadium on Wednesday night.
The pitch remained true for batting, but also provided significant grip and turn for the spin bowlers. Gudakesh Motie (3/33) broke the back of England's chase, while Roston Chase (2/29) and Akeal Hosein (1/32) also bowled tightly.
"I don't think so," Brook retorted when asked if England continued to struggle against spin. Instead, he pointed to their 3-0 victory over a spin-heavy Sri Lanka just before the T20 World Cup.
"…that series against Sri Lanka showed that. I thought we played spin really well out there. They bowled (the West Indies) well. They kept themselves in the game the whole time. We lost quite a few wickets in clusters, which never really helps," he said.
England had just about managed to beat Nepal in their opening match, winning by four runs. The West Indies, in contrast, have looked solid with two consecutive wins.
Brook said England had planned for dew to come into play in the second half, but the conditions did not change as expected.
"We didn't quite execute well enough with the ball, and they probably got 15-20 runs too many," Brook said.
"We thought it (the target of 197 runs) was chaseable. We planned for dew, and it didn't quite get as dewy as we thought, and it didn't quite slide onto the bat as much as we were expecting.
"Chasing nearly 200 is always a big ask, and we thought the pitch would get a little better and it would slide onto the bat a bit more, but that didn't happen," the England captain added.
Hope pleased with Windies show
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In contrast, West Indies captain Shai Hope was pleased with the fact that his team had now recorded two confident wins in the tournament.
"Maybe (our score) was just around par, but still happy to get something on the board. It is a World Cup game, and that in itself could be worth an extra 10-20 runs. So it's important for us to try to maximise our chances and then execute with the ball," he said.
Hope said the inclusion of Test captain Chase, who played a key role in West Indies' win, was meant to maximize the skills of the playing eleven, and the move proved successful.
"It was a tactical change. He's one of those players who can come in and make a difference at any time. We understood the threat that they posed with some of their left-handers who could take the game away from us," Hope said.
"He's one of those bowlers who can come in and (we can) rely on him at any point. We saw that he was very crucial and essential with the bat in our batting innings as well.
"He gave us some stability, and he's one of those utility players that you can never neglect," he added.
Hope also praised Sherfane Rutherford for his unbeaten 76, which set up the game for the Caribbean side.
"He's always been a hard worker, especially when it comes to his batting. He's always very diligent with the way he prepares, and he backs himself from the start of his innings all the way through to the end if he's working on something," Hope said.
"I don't think that has changed since he came into the team," he added.
Chase, on his part, disagreed that he had a knack of taking wickets against England in particular.
"I don't think it's something (to do) with England. Anytime I step on the cricket field, I just want to do my best, whether it's to bowl tightly or to take wickets," he said.
