ICC T20 WORLD CUP 2022

October 21, 2022

Phil Simmons

Bellerive Oval

West Indies

Post Match Media Conference

Ireland 150/1, West Indies 146/5

Q. How would you assess that and where it's gone wrong this competition?

PHIL SIMMONS: I think the assessment is that we just didn't turn up today. We started well with the bat, but we just didn't continue.

I think when you sum it up, we were outplayed in all departments today. They bowled well. We batted well at the start but didn't carry on, and they just batted well and batted us out of the game.

Q. If you look at West Indies, obviously the only team to have won the T20 World Cup twice. How is it going from that to now not making the Super 12s?

PHIL SIMMONS: Yeah, that's how things are. I think we haven't been playing good enough cricket to be there as we would be there. We have the batsmen, the capabilities, we just haven't been putting it together. Our bowlers are showing up nine out of ten times, but the batters haven't really shown up. I think all the batters will be disappointed in what they've produced, not just at the World Cup but just before the World Cup and everything like that.

We need to go back, and batsmen need to take a look at themselves and work out how we score 170, 180 runs to be in the game because the bowlers are doing their job.

Q. You were kind of well aware of the threat posed by Ireland before this tournament, so no complacency, it's just they delivered as you thought they might, and you haven't been good enough in response?

PHIL SIMMONS: No, we've worked hard. We've prepared well. It's just on the day, we haven't done the correct things. We haven't assessed the situation properly of the day and done what's necessary for the situation.

I don't think there was no disrespect on our part. We prepared like if we were playing anyone else.

Q. Two poor World Cups in a row now. Do you think there are short-term fixes, or is this a long-term T20 malaise for West Indies cricket?

PHIL SIMMONS: I don't know. We've got to go back and look at our structure and how we play the game and make sure that when we come to competitions and when we play in bilateral series we are ready and able to do what's necessary for each situation of the game.

Q. Do you think you left yourselves too much to do with the bat towards the later stages of the innings because the powerplay in the first innings, it seemed from the outside that West Indies didn't show the sort of intent that Ireland did?

PHIL SIMMONS: No, we didn't show the sort of intent that Ireland did, and as I said before, we were outplayed in all departments today. We have shown intent before, but the middle phases have been our problem, and we're just -- we haven't gotten over it yet.

Q. Was there also an issue around not having enough spin options because Ireland and Zimbabwe the other day used spin quite effectively against the West Indies?

PHIL SIMMONS: Well, they have it and they choose to use it against us. If we think we needed it because those two teams play spin well, so we didn't think we needed it.

Q. Any consolation that you've gone out to Ireland?

PHIL SIMMONS: There is no consolation in losing.

Q. Are you impressed by Paul Stirling this evening, what he can do with the bat? Obviously he did it today after having a long run of form.

PHIL SIMMONS: Yeah, Stirling is an international cricketer and one of note. At some point in the tournament he's going to come good and do what he did today, so that's not really a surprise, and I think we prepared for things. We just didn't do what we prepared to do against them today, and he batted well.

Q. Phil, just wondering a little bit about the bowling tactics. What was the reason behind maybe keeping Jason Holder and Alzarri Joseph for later on in the innings? Did you feel you'd need them at the end, or did you think you could have used them up front?

PHIL SIMMONS: What do you mean by later on in the innings?

Q. Alzarri Joseph didn't open the bowling, and I'm just wondering why that was.

PHIL SIMMONS: He bowled the third over, so I think that's close enough to open. That's just the way we saw it supposed to happen. We gave Obed the first over, and Akeal has been bowling well there. The last three, four games we played, Alzarri bowled well the third over, the fourth over, the fifth over, so we just look at it like that.