By: Caribbean World News Monday February 08,

West Indies captain Chris Gayle has lamented his team’s batting flop that resulted in their huge loss to Australia in their first One Day International (ODI) at the MCG.

Replying to Australia’s total of 256 for eight off 50 overs, West Indies gathered a mere 143 all out in 34.2 overs as the home side marched into a 1-0 lead in the five-match series. “This is a terrible batting display to be honest,” Gayle said. “We lost three early wickets and that set us back. That makes it difficult to play catch-up cricket in a 50-over game,” he added. West Indies stumbled to 12 for three in the fifth over as they began their run chase for 257.

Gayle fell for only seven—caught at mid-off as he top-edged an attempted pull shot off Doug Bollinger—in the third over. Ryan Harris then had Gayle’s opening partner Runako Morton (3) caught behind at 12 for two and without addition to the score, Travis Dowlin (1) fell to Bollinger. Kieron Pollard (31), Lendl Simmons (29), and Narsingh Deonarine (19) gave mild resistance in the middle order and wicket-keeper Denesh Ramdin scored a brisk 17 as the only players getting to double-figures for the Windies.

“The start was very important and we didn’t get the (good) start. We thought the target was gettable and we fell way short,” Gayle said. It was a disappointing start to the five-match series and Gayle said the team will have to rebound well in the second match at the Adelaide Oval on Tuesday evening (Monday night Caribbean time). “We’ll bounce back,” Gayle said after the match. “It’s definitely not the kind of start we wanted in this series, but having said that the damage is done so it’s back to square one. We’re looking forward to Adelaide and getting back into the series as quickly as possible.”

The Player-of-the-Match award went to Aussie all-rounder Shane Watson, who made 59 from 74 balls and also took a wicket. He got good help from seamer Harris and off-spinner Nathan Hauritz who both took three wickets. Pollard was the best player for touring West Indies, snaring a career-best ODI bowling figures of three for 45 from 10 overs before getting the top score. His 31 came off 32 balls as he added 64 for the fifth wicket with Simmons. Pollard picked up the key wickets of skipper Ricky Ponting for 49 and Michael Clarke for 18. In his ninth over and first of the final power-play, Pollard proved he could handle the pressure and pulled off a brilliant solo effort—one-handed return catch low to his right—to send Brad Haddin packing.

Gayle said he was pleased with Pollard’s showing in his first international game since June last year. “Pollard did a really good job for us and I was pleased with the way he performed especially with the ball. He is maturing as a player. His bowling was great and he started to bat really well, but unfortunately got out at a crucial stage in our innings,” Gayle said. “A lot of credit must go to our bowlers but the worry today was the batting,” Gayle declared. (CMC)