West Indies Captain Kieron Pollard levelled the blame squarely at the feet of his batsmen for the team’s six-wicket loss to Australia, which resulted in the visitors winning the three-match ODI Series 2-1 on Monday (July 26).

However, Pollard was also critical of the state of the pitch, which he believes also contributed to the side’s humiliating loss.

Winning the toss and electing to bat, the West Indies were bowled out for 152 with only Evin Lewis’ unbeaten 55 was worthy of mention as Mitchell Starc (3-43), Josh Hazelwood (2-18), Ashton Agar (2-31) and Adam Zampa (2-29) wreaked havoc on the home side’s batting line up.

Pollard, who was the fifth wicket to fall, for 11, was frank in his assessment afterwards.

“We didn’t bat well. Winning the toss; yes, the wicket was a bit tacky and I thought we did the hard work in the early overs but we weren’t able to string partnerships together,” he said.

“153 was never going to be enough. 200-220 on that track might have been a fighting total. For us, it has been challenging. We accept that we haven’t batted well throughout this series. Coming from the T20 series, the difference in the stroke-play was evident.”

Frank as he was about the poor batting, Pollard was scathing in his criticism on the surface on which they were required to play.

“Coming here to Barbados, I think both teams struggled on the pitch and I think that’s unacceptable for international cricket. We’re not going to make excuses. We accept that we batted badly but I don’t think the scores that we have gotten in this three-match series, with two top international teams, I think that’s very embarrassing for us as a people,” he declared.

“Coming from St Lucia to this, I think it’s absolutely ridiculous. It was plain for the world to see. If I continue going on about it, it’s going to be headlines, ‘Pollard this, Pollard that.’ That’s fine with me. But the reality is, we as players, sometimes we get the brunt of the accusations and all the bad stuff. But give guys the opportunity to come and play on some good cricketing wickets,” the Windies skipper added.

He called on the stakeholders, players especially, to take responsibility for the poor standard of play and suggested that they approach their professions with greater passion.

“It goes back even to our regional cricket as well. I think as a whole we need to do better and we as individuals need to do better as well. So we’re not going to cast blame. We’re going to accept responsibility as well. But I think as a holistic approach and holistic view to move forward,” he said.

“You can use depleted, you can use second string, but this Australian team, these guys are passionate about their cricket. I’ve had the opportunity to play with Alex at Adelaide Strikers and he has a good head on his shoulders. I think leadership suits him. Long may it continue for him. Well played to the Australians and we look to see where we can come back strong,” Pollard ended.

Australia, needing 153 to win at three runs an over, achieved their target with 117 balls to spare even though they had a few hiccups along the way. They lost the wickets of Josh Phillippe for 10, Moises Henriques for 1, Alex Carey for 35 and Mitchell Marsh for 29, as the West Indies bowlers fought valiantly to defend the indefensible.

From 99-4, Matthew Wade, who scored an unbeaten 51 and Ashton Agar, who was 19 not out, stitched together a 55-run partnership that took Australia to victory.

Alzarri Joseph, Sheldon Cottrell, Hayden Walsh Jr and Akeal Hosein each took a wicket in the futile effort.

Carey, the stand-in captain was chuffed at the outcome of the match and the series.

“Personally and collectively it’s really exciting. It’s tough to leave home during a pandemic and the commitment that this group has shown, it’s fantastic to see a result go our way tonight,” he said.

“The T20s didn’t go our way but that’s some great reward for a lot of commitment shown to the group. I thought the bowlers did a great job. I think there were some good innings throughout the series. It was a little bit ugly tonight but you’ve got to get a total like that a little bit ugly when the wicket is doing a fair bit and we bounced back from the other night.

“We understood the conditions and for the batters to score 150, it was a great target to get.”

Mitchell Starc took 11 wickets across the three matches and was named Player of the Series.