Kingston (Jamaica), Oct 22 (IANS): Cricket West Indies president Ricky Skerritt has expressed deep disappointment over the West Indies men's team's stunning defeat to Ireland that resulted in their exit from the ICC T20 World Cup in Australia.
In the match played at Hobart, leg-spinner Gareth Delany picked up career-best figures of 3/16 while veteran opener Paul Stirling slammed a sensational 66 not out to take Ireland to the Super 12 stage with a nine-wicket drubbing of West Indies in a decisive Group B match of the first round at Bellerive Oval on Friday.
After Delany kept things tight, with other bowlers chipping in, to keep the West Indies to an under-par 146/5 in 20 overs, with Brandon King making an unbeaten 62, Stirling came out all guns blazing in his unbeaten 48-ball knock, hitting six fours and two sixes, hunting down the total with 15 balls remaining.
"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," Skerritt said in a statement on Friday.
Skerritt blamed his team's batsmen for their inability to score as West Indies went down tamely.
"The going inability of our batsmen to prevail over opposing 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," he said.
He, however, assured all stakeholders of a thorough post-mortem and the World Cup debacle.
"However, I want to assure stakeholders that a thorough post-mortem will be carried out on all aspects of our World Cup preparation and performance and that solutions will be found in keeping with CWI's strategy to improve the quality and sustainability of cricket on all fronts, and in all formats," Skerritt said.
"West Indies cricket is bigger than any one individual or event and continues to need the input and support of all stakeholders," he further said.
In three matches in the T20 World Cup 2022, West Indies lost to Scotland and Ireland, winning only one match against Zimbabwe.