Windies positive before India game: Holder

Sydney, Feb 28 (IANS) Captain Jason Holder said the West Indies are confident of still making the quarterfinals of the cricket World Cup and urged his side to quickly forget the thrashing they received at the hands of South Africa and concentrate on their next Pool B game against India.

The West Indies entered the contest at the Sydney Cricket Ground here Friday on a run of two victories but collapsed to a 257-run defeat, the joint worst-ever defeat in World Cup history, reports CMC.

The loss left them with just four points from four games with two games remaining in Pool B but Holder said the Windies needed to remain positive.

“Going forward into the next game, we need to take the positives from this game and try to go against India with full confidence. We need to put it behind us as quickly as possible but we need to look at our errors we made in this game, that’s important, and look for ways in which we can improve," the 23-year-old seamer said.

“We are very confident we can make the quarter-finals. We just need to play good cricket against India first and then take on UAE in our last game.”

Asked to bowl first, the West Indies tied down the Proteas batsman initially but captain AB de Villiers arrived to lash his 20th One-Day International (ODI) hundred, a scintillating 66-ball unbeaten 162, to transform the game.

He smashed 17 fours and eight sixes as South Africa piled on 261 runs in the last 20 overs to score 408/5, the second highest total in World Cups. In reply, the West Indies capitulated for 151 with Holder top-scoring with 56.

The West Indies face India in their next game in Perth Friday.