We lost the momentum early, did not apply ourselves: Holder

Perth, March 6 (IANS) Stumbling to their third loss in five World Cup games, West Indies skipper Jason Holder on Friday said his team lost the momentum early in their innings with batsmen failing to apply themselves well enough against the Indians in the Pool B outing at the WACA.

Electing to bat first, the Caribbean essay never quite got going as they threw away wickets at regular intervals to be skittled out for 182.

Indian pacers Mohammad Sami (3-35) and Umesh Yadav (2-42) walloped the top order , before spinners Ravichandran Ashwin (1-38) and Ravindra Jadeja (2-27) choked the runs.

In reply, India eased past the West Indies' score with four wickets in hand.

“I just thought that batsmen didn't hang in long enough on this wicket. We just lost the momentum early in the innings and we just never really recovered. 

"I think it wasn't difficult, we just didn't apply ourselves well enough today,” Holder (57), who top scored with the bat, said at the post-match presentation ceremony.

The 23-year-old West Indies captain said the team needed to buck up quickly and reassess what was going wrong as they head into their final encounter against United Arab Emirates (UAE) at Napier on March 15.

“I think going forward, we just need to assess conditions as quickly as possible and just make the adjustment necessary. 

"We just need to win some more games. We just definitely have to string together a complete game, because we have been lacking that in the previous games,” he added. 

West Indies, the two-two world champions, who have seemingly left their golden years way behind, have gone down to South Africa and non-Test playing side Ireland, while registering wins over Pakistan and Zimbabwe in the ongoing edition of the mega tournament.