Holder rues 'irresponsible' batting as Windies slip to defeat

Nottingham, June 7: Jason Holder was frustrated to see West Indies let victory slip from their grasp as "irresponsible" batting allowed Australia to prevail by 15 runs.

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Thursday's thrilling Cricket World Cup encounter at Trent Bridge started off in fine fashion for the Windies, who reduced their opponents to 38-4 before Steve Smith (73) and Nathan Coulter-Nile's swashbuckling 92 off 60 balls propelled Australia to 288 all out.

At 149-3 midway through the chase, Holder's men looked well set to make it two wins from two but Shimron Hetmyer's run out and some poor shot-making saw that honour go to Australia, for whom Mitchell Starc shone with 5-46.

"We're obviously disappointed. I thought we were well in the game there. Just a few irresponsible shots when we probably just needed to tap it around a little bit more," Holder, who made 51, said in the on-field presentation.

"We dropped Coulter-Nile when he was about 60-odd and he got about another 30 runs. That was one pivotal moment but obviously the batting... If we came here at the start of the day and limited Australia to 280, we'd have taken that.

"The batters need to take the responsibility and knock it off. We have to be more consistent. When we have teams down, we have to keep them down."

Coulter-Nile, meanwhile, reflected on making the highest score by a number eight in World Cups.

"I didn't think I'd get that much but was happy to. I got a bit of a spray for getting out when Smithy was on 80 in one of the practice games so I thought I'd just try to stick around for a bit," he said.

"Luck went my way. It looked like West Indies were on track the whole way until Starcy took three or four at the end there."