DHAKA, Bangladesh – Carlos Brathwaite said the players on the Sagicor High Performance Centre team learned some valuable lessons from a 52-run defeat by the Bangladesh A-Team in their tour match on Wednesday.
The Sagicor HPC captain said the way his side’s batting failed to cope with the Bangladesh-A spin bowlers was a major letdown and gave them much about which to consider for future reference.
Chasing 239 for victory, the visitors were bowled out for 186 in their second innings inside the first hour on the final day of the four-day match at the Sher-e-Bangla Stadium.
The outcome meant that no team scored more than 200 in the match and ended the four-day programme on the tour for the Sagicor HPC.
"We were disciplined as a bowling unit and a fielding unit, but we lacked discipline in our batting," he told WICB Media. "Most of us got in, but gave away our wickets due to a lack of patience.
"My major disappointment was the first innings, where many of us were dismissed attempting strokes over the top. It was a pitch on which we needed to dig in and bat for a long period of time.
"One batsman from the opposing side batted 11 hours collectively in the match, getting 30 in the first innings and 60 in the second innings, and as a team we did not bat 11 hours in total."
Brathwaite said it was clear that the Sagicor HPC players had the technical skill to do the job, but many times it was their natural instincts that took control, leading to ill-advised strokes.
"With fielders clustered around the bat, it is about trusting instincts or your defensive ability to keep out the bad balls," he said. "I think we went searching for bad balls and made some bad decisions as a batting unit.
"It is still a learning process, and as a batting unit, we are still trying to come to grips with the conditions. In the previous game, the conditions were a lot easier, and the bowling was also easy, but this is a learning process, and we will look to come back strongly."
Brathwaite said the Sagicor HPC coaching staff had prepared the side well, but the players still had a few old habits that led to the performance in the match and which would need to be broken.
"I think it is a matter of changing our upbringing because we are accustomed to being attacking to spin back home from our younger days, and we can’t change in three or four months something which we have been doing for a lifetime," he said.
"So it is a matter for us to come to grips with the changes that we need to make to reach the next level, understanding the steps that need to be taken to change, and eventually changing things as a team and personally."
Brathwaite praised the bowlers on the side, describing them as "patient and disciplined", and also hailed the work ethic of players in the field.
"To bowl out a team that has been patient, batting-wise, for under 200 in both innings was a fantastic achievement," he said. "These are players that are accustomed playing on these types of pitches and plenty of spin bowling.
"In the second innings, I was the only fast bowler available because Sheldon Cotterrell had an injury and he did not bowl as many overs as we would have liked."
He added: "So with a bowler short and the spinners Jomel Warrican and Veerasammy Permaul bowling more than 20 overs apiece, to be able to maintain the discipline and keep the Bangladesh-A batsmen to under two runs an over for the majority of the innings was another fantastic achievement.
"As a fielding unit we also did well, saving 15 to 20 runs in the field in both innings from sharp singles to saving boundaries through diving efforts, so we could not ask for anything more. The management staff expressed their delight about the way we went about doing things in the field – batting was our only concern."
The Sagicor HPC now face the same opponents in three One-day matches, starting on Saturday at the same venue.