England captain Alastair Cook admitted his side's tour of the West Indies would go down as a "failure" after slipping up in the final Test
England skipper Alastair Cook (second from left) is dejected after his teamu00c3u00a2u00c2u0080u00c2u0099s loss to WI
Bridgetown, Barbados: England captain Alastair Cook admitted his side's tour of the West Indies would go down as a "failure" after slipping up in the final Test.
England skipper Alastair Cook (second from left) is dejected after his team’s loss to WI. Pic/Getty Images
England had the best of a drawn match in Antigua and grabbed victory on the final day in Grenada but had to make do with a drawn series after the hosts claimed a five-wicket win in the deciding match in Barbados.
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The words of incoming ECB chairman Colin Graves, who called the West Indies "mediocre" and promised an inquiry should they not be beaten, will be used a stick to beat England with in the aftermath and Cook accepted the final result fell short of expectations.
Having won the toss a first-innings score of 257 was light but the game was arguably won and lost when they were rolled over for 123 in the second dig.
'We tried...'
"Every series we play we try to win so of course it's a failure in that way," he told Sky Sports 2.
Darren Bravo hits a four during his 82 vs England on Sunday. Pic/AFP
"We'll keep working hard to be as good as we can be but for the last 120 overs of this match we probably weren't good enough to win the Test match.
"You can talk the talk but we need to deliver in the middle. For the majority of the series we did a lot of good stuff but when the pressure came on in the third innings we didn't bat very well."
Cook ended a two-year century drought in the first innings, but was one of five English batsmen who fell in a manic 21-over spell on the second evening. That left the tourists reeling on 39-5 overnight.
The West Indies batted with significantly greater control in the fourth innings, chasing down 192 for the loss of just five wickets as Darren Bravo (82) and Jermaine Blackwood (47 not out) steered them home. "We came here after victory in Grenada with the opportunity to win the series, but our second innings showed you can lose a Test pretty quickly," Cook said.
"We'll take it on the chin because we've had a lot of good things in terms of player development but the bottom line is we haven't done enough to win the series."
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