Windies bowling coach Franklin expects better execution in upcoming ODIs against Sri Lanka

With a subpar bowling effort resulting in Sri Lanka taking a 1-0 lead in their three-match One Day International (ODI) series, West Indies bowling coach James Franklin is hoping the bowlers will get their acts together to assist in turning the Caribbean side’s fortunes in the next two fixtures.

Franklin, a former New Zealand all-rounder, acknowledged that the West Indies lacked proper execution in the bowling department, as they went down by five wickets under the Duckworth-Lewis-Stern method in Sunday’s opening contest.

After losing over three hours of play due to heavy showers during the West Indies’ batting innings, Sri Lanka were set a revised target of 232 in 37 overs, which they made light work of, as only Gudakesh Motie (3-47) and Alzarri Joseph (2-39) showed any real fight with the ball.

“We were given a total that we felt that we could defend, and we had a great start with the ball. We got three wickets in that power play reduced down to eight overs and had Sri Lanka under some pressure, but they had a really significant partnership with the captain Asalanka and the debutant Madushka,” Franklin said.

“We probably weren’t as good with our execution with the ball yesterday [Sunday]—I think that will be the general reflection—and going into the next game, I think we can be a lot better with our execution, with our lengths, particularly. We’re 1-0 down in this three-game series. We’ve got a couple of days now to reflect and work on where our improvements lie going into this next game,” he added.

Though disappointed with the manner of the opening loss, Franklin is backing the Shai Hope-captained team to bounce back in Wednesday’s second contest, as well as in the final encounter on Saturday to top the series.

“We’re on a journey as an ODI team, and we have to keep improving, keep trying to move ourselves up the rankings in terms of the ICC table. We’re coming here to Sri Lanka, who has always been a good team in their own country and difficult to beat in their own conditions, so we know we have a huge challenge these next couple of games,” Franklin reasoned.

“While yesterday (Sunday) was disappointing, we know that we’re still in this series; we know we have a huge game coming up on Wednesday, and we just have to execute our skills for longer.

“We know what surface we’re going to get; it’s going to be a very similar surface again. So we’re going to prep well and make sure that we’re a little bit better with our execution with the ball,” he ended. (Sportsmax)