KINGSTON — Brendan Taylor, the Zimbabwe cricket captain, has admitted his team were “taught a proper lesson” during their 2-0 Test series defeat against West Indies.
— Cricinfo
Both matches ended inside three days as the Zimbabwe batsmen, in particular, struggled to cope against a vastly more experienced West Indies side.
Zimbabwe lost seven out of seven international fixtures on the tour — three ODIs, two T20s and two Tests — their first since a similarly disappointing trip to New Zealand last year.
The defeat in Roseau was Alan Butcher’s last match as coach of Zimbabwe, with his contract up at the end of the month, and his replacement will have much work to do ahead of the visit of Bangladesh in April.
“It’s been massively disappointing. We have been taught a proper lesson,” Taylor was quoted as saying by Reuters. “It hurts to be in this position but the West Indies were a far better side than us.
“The seamers can hold their heads high and hopefully carry some momentum into the Bangladesh series but a lot of us need to go home and have a good think and then try to execute better in quiet a few areas. We can only learn from this, we are a side that will definitely try to rectify a few things.”
The tour was a difficult one for Taylor personally, as he made just 123 runs from nine innings, with a top score of 39. Before Zimbabwe’s squad left for the Caribbean, Taylor had been critical of the decision to leave behind batting coach Grant Flower, bowling coach Heath Streak and fitness trainer Lorraine Chivandire and there is plenty for the support staff to work on ahead of the Tests against Bangladesh, the first of which begins on April 17.
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Zimbabwe only returned to the Test arena in 2011, after a six-year exile, beating Bangladesh in a one-off Test in Harare. The successor to Butcher, who guided Zimbabwe for the last three years, is expected to be one of Flower, assistant coach Stephen Mangongo or Andy Waller, a former international, and should be in place by the start of next month for Bangladesh’s return.
