File photo of Phil Simmons.
West Indies coach Phil Simmons said after the T20I series loss to South Africa on Saturday that while the bowling and fielding were "excellent", the team let itself down badly in batting.
West Indies were handed a 25-run defeat by the Proteas in the fifth and final T20I as they lost the five-match series 2-3.
"I think, from a bowling point of view and fielding, it has been excellent. On that wicket to keep the team at 160 has been brilliant. But I think on the batting side, we have let ourselves down in every game so far except the first game where we chased down the runs in 15 overs," Simmons said in a video posted by Cricket West Indies (CWI).
"So, it is something we got to look at and make sure, especially overs 7 to 14, we are getting better at it. We are learning how to deal with it in order to get proper scores," said the former West Indies cricketer.
On whether the middle-order required any changes, Simmons said, "I think definitely there (needs to be) tactical and technical change. You got to assess what situation we are in and from that situation you got to be able to formulate a plan for scoring runs. We need to score in that section. Tactically we have been lacking."
Simmons was all praise for South Africa's left-arm wrist-spinner Tabraiz Shamsi. Shamsi, adjudged 'Player of the Series', troubled the hosts' batting order with seven wickets in five matches at an economy rate of just four.
"He's bowled excellent. He has been bowling on lengths we couldn't get to him. He has put us in trouble all through the series".
The Trinidadian said his team will need to play smartly in the middle overs. "We got to think a bit more. We got to be a little bit smarter in our cricket. We just got to think about how do we do things and think about a way we gonna score in those overs (7 to 14) to set up things for the back end. We have been good at the back end. But we need to work on the middle section."
West Indies' next assignment is a five-match T20I series against Australia in St Lucia from July 9.
