The Windies head coach Stuart Law feels the recently concluded five-match ODI series against the hosts India was a good opportunity for some of Windies players, who have missed it.

While the 2019 ICC Cricket World Cup in England is just seven months away, it was an important series for Windies to set up their team for the big tournament. While Shai Hope, Shimron Hetmyer and the skipper Jason Holder have impressed with their performances, some of their players have failed to grab these opportunities.

Law has specially mentioned that the openers Kieran Powell and the new man Chandrapaul Hemraj should have scored more runs in this batting paradise. However, Law still feels that they will get another opportunity soon on the Bangladesh tour.

Law said after the ODI series that Windies lost by the 3-1 margins, “For the players that we did bring in, it was an opportunity. The guys who got the opportunity at the top of the order, I think it is an opportunity missed. I’m not saying there isn’t another opportunity, there are three games in Bangladesh in a couple of weeks time. But I would have thought that playing here in India, on some of the batting paradises that we have seen, there could have been a few more runs scored by the two at the top.”

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Law has impressed on the skipper Jason Holder’s all-round performances, who scored 161 runs with the bat at the lower-order (average 40.25) and also bowled tight in the batting-friendly conditions.

Talking about Holder, Law said, “Jason Holder still proves he is not only one of our best batsmen but also one of our better bowlers.”

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While both the opening batsmen have failed to grab the opportunities on this Indian tour, Law feels the debutants Obed McCoy and Oshane Thomas both have shown some positive signs.

Talking about their present situation, Law said, “We are still looking to fill holes. We were hopeful that we will leave India and Bangladesh knowing pretty much the squad that we are going to take to the world cup, which would have been pretty much the same squad we were going to play against England in January and February. We still have to find a few players, so there are still opportunities for players to stake a claim.

“There were some players who guaranteed to go to the world cup, and they have performed well in this series. But there are still going to be places up for grabs. With availability of other players coming back into the reckoning, it is up to whoever who wants it bad enough to really not just stick their hands up but grab it with both hands in Bangladesh, leave no stone unturned to make sure they are there at the world cup.”

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After losing the first ODI of the series at Guwahati by 8 wickets despite scoring 322-run in the first innings, Windies tied at Visakhapatnam and won by 43 runs at Pune. However, they totally faded away in the last two ODIs at Mumbai and Thiruvananthapuram as they were thrashed by 224 runs and 9 wickets respectively that led them to the series defeat by 3-1.

Speaking about this ODI series, Law said, “In Pune and Vizag, we had great games of cricket. Those two games took a lot out of us and in the last two games, we had no petrol left in the tank.

“That is what we need to address. We have tried to address our fitness and strength areas but we still have a long way to go. Coming here and playing against one of the best teams in the world, it is about battling conditions. If you are not conditioned or not fit enough, you have to battle even harder as we found out in the last two games. In the second and the third game we showed how well we can play. Unfortunately we could not get to those standards in the last two.”

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However, Law is still hopeful on the team as he believes that the players have the right and lots of skills but need to mentally prepare to handle every situation and India is the best place for it to learning.

Law added, “They have a lot of skill, every single one of them. But it is temperament or making decision under pressure (where they are lacking). Once you walk out there, with 40,000 people screaming against one of the best teams playing cricket, pressure does funny things. It is about living it, it’s very easy to sit down and talk about it, you still don’t understand what that pressure is. You have to go out there and live it.”