T20 World Cup 2022: "Thorough postmortem will be carried out on all aspects" - CWI issues a strong message after West Indies' poor showing

Cricket West Indies (CWI) have reacted strongly to the national team's elimination from the preliminary round of the ongoing T20 World Cup on Friday (October 21). President Ricky Skerritt stated that CWI will do a thorough soul-searching and come up with solutions to improve the quality of the T20 side.

West Indies lost to Scotland in their first game before beating Zimbabwe to keep their Super 12 qualification hopes alive. However, Ireland sealed their exit on Friday in Hobart with an explosive batting performance.

Batting first, West Indies posted146 on the board before Paul Stirling put the opposition to the sword with an unbeaten 66.

CWI President Ricky Skerritt lamented the batters' ability to play slow bowling and their poor shot selection. Skerritt stated that the board would introspect and work on getting the team back on track again. In a statement, he said:

"I am deeply disappointed with the performance results of our team in Australia and I appreciate the sense of utter frustration that is being experienced by many. The ongoing inability of our batsmen to prevail over slow bowling continued to be an obvious weakness in Australia, and untimely shot selections seem to be deeply embedded in the T20 batting culture of our senior team."

The statement continued:

"However, I want to assure our stakeholders that a thorough postmortem will be carried out on all aspects of our World Cup preparation and performance, and that solutions will be found keeping with CWI's strategy to improve the quality and sustainability of cricket on all fronts, and in all formats.

"West Indies cricket is bigger than any one individual or event, and continues to need the input and support of all stakeholders."

It's worth noting that the Men in Maroon have won the T20 World Cup twice, in 2012 and 2016. However, they have endured poor outings in the last two years and the 2021 edition of the T20 World Cup saw them eliminated in the Super 12 stage.

"We have disappointed our fans and ourselves" - West Indies captain

Nicholas Pooran. (Image Credits: Getty)

Skipper Nicholas Pooran hailed Ireland's performance and took responsibility for an insipid batting performance on a true batting surface. Following the game, he said, as quoted by the Times of India:

"We have disappointed our fans and ourselves. It's definitely hurting. I have disappointed my guys with the way I performed. It's tough, we haven't batted well in the tournament at all. On a really good batting surface, making 145, it's a really difficult task for the bowlers.

"It was going to be a challenge. Congratulations to Ireland, they batted fantastically and bowled well today."

Pooran, who came into the tournament in poor form, continued to struggle. The southpaw managed only 25 runs in three games at 8.33.