Hope: We can go home with our heads held high

KOLKATA, India:

Despite failing to reach the semifinal of the ICC Men's T20 World Cup, West Indies captain Shai Hope believes his team performed admirably and can hold their heads held high.

There were also impressive individual performances, with Shimron Hetmyer being the fourth highest run scorer in the competition with 248 runs at an average of 41.33 as of Sunday.

He also broke the record for the most sixes at a T20 World Cup, having cleared the boundary ropes 19 times.

Hope scored 217 runs at an average of 36.17, while Sherfane Rutherford's 183 runs in seven innings came at a stunning average of 61.

In the bowling department, Gudakesh Motie and Jason Holder finished with 10 wickets apiece to be 10th and 13th best, respectively, while Matthew Forde's economy rate of 6.25 was eighth best among bowlers.

Romario Shepherd also became the first West Indian to take a hat-trick at a T20 World Cup.

BOWLING

"I thought our bowling was a lot better than previous series, and this is really when you want it to stand out. The bowling, especially in the powerplay, was really good. I think we had 38 wickets out of 40 in the group stages, so that was amazing in T20 cricket," Hope said in a post-match press conference.

"And then from a batting standpoint, Shimron Hetmyer coming in at number three and doing what he does best, a lot of the batters coming in and contributing to those bigger totals that we got in this tournament," he noted. "I thought the fielding was okay in patches, but again we still have many areas that we can improve.

"There's always positives we can take away. Hetty played a really good tournament, Matthew Forde with the new ball, Akeal [Hosein] and Motie taking wickets, Sheppy [Romario Shepherd] with a hat-trick and a fiver.

"I thought the guys represented the region well and I think we all can go home with our heads held high," the skipper added.

- CMC