Australian legend Ricky Ponting has asked for early exit of West Indies from T20 World Cup a “disgrace”.
Two-time champions West Indies crashed out of the tournament after a heavy loss to Ireland, their campaign lasting just three matches.
After an early defeat against Scotland in Hobart, West Indies won over Zimbabwe and lost in a winner-take-it-all game before losing to Ireland.
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“It’s a shame,” Ponting said at the SCG ahead of the first Super 12 match between Australia and New Zealand here on Saturday.
“It’s very bad for their cricket. They have so much talent in that team and in West Indies cricket that they are not able to make it to the next stage of the World Cup.
“And not even one of their main players is flying to be here for the World Cup… to me a summary like this probably means little to the West Indies players And if you look at the way that they played you would say the same thing.
“(Nicholas) Pooran and these guys are much better players than what we’ve seen in the last few weeks, so there’s no doubt that there will be some soul-searching to be done when they come back.
“They’ll be just as disappointed as anyone, it’s easy for me to stand here and say it’s a shame they didn’t make it, but they would hurt anyone just as much.
“They will have big ideas and dreams coming here and they haven’t played anywhere well enough to even progress. So they have some work to do,” he said.
West Indies are to return to Australia next month for a two-Test series. West Indies, which last played a Test series in Australia in 2015-16, have not won a Test series since 1997.
“I didn’t have to watch it to be overly concerned about the first few Tests,” Ponting said.
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“But what’s interesting with that, they’ve really found a way, mainly at home, I think, to be reasonably competitive on the Test front with Brathwaite and Holder over the years, they’ve Really good job in Test cricket.
“But if they’re going to compete with the current group with the Aussies, they’re going to have to figure out some length. If you just line them up on paper, you think they can compete.
“Cricket is a fun game, but I think he has to play with his skin to make the first two Tests fun.”
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