Hobart, Oct 21 (IANS): West Indies head coach Phil Simmons' wait to see his batters "show up" continued on Friday as they came up with another frustrating performance -- this time against Ireland in the ICC T20 World Cup First Round Group B match here -- leaving the former allrounder exasperated and venting his disgust in the post-match press conference.
Irish leg-spinner Gareth Delany picked career-best figures of 3/16 while veteran opener Paul Stirling, playing in his seventh T20 World Cup, stood up when it mattered the most, slamming a sensational 66 not out to take his side to the Super 12 stage with a nine-wicket drubbing of West Indies at Bellerive Oval.
"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 (Ireland) 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," said Simmons.
West Indies were expected to pull their game up after the 42-run defeat to Scotland, but their batters could muster only 146 on Friday, with Paul Stirling and Lorcan Tucker completing the task in 17.3 overs.
"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 10 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... We haven't assessed the situation properly of the day and done what's necessary for the situation," added Simmons.
Simmons indicated he had no answers to West Indies' travails, with the two-time champions having fared miserably in the last two editions of the tournament.
"I don't know (what's wrong). 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. We didn't show the sort of intent that Ireland did, and as I said before, we were outplayed in all departments today. There is no consolation in losing."