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King: On any given day either of these sides can beat each other ...

KARACHI, Pakistan (CMC):

West Indies coach Bennett King yesterday defended his wounded side, after they suffered a sound seven-wicket loss to Pakistan to lose the five-match one-day international series 3-1.

He dismissed suggestions the side lacked confidence, and said while the tour of Pakistan had been disappointing, they had reaped some measure of success on the overall tour of the sub-continent.

"No, we didn't lack confidence, we just didn't execute very well," King said after the loss at the National Stadium.

"I thought we were 30-40 runs short of where we should have been and we didn't get our scoring shots up in the 10-30 over mark and then in the last 10 we didn't play that as well as we could have either with wickets in hand. You have to keep learning from these things."

He continued: "We've got a number of young people in our squad and coming to the sub-continent at any time is a difficult proposition, but we've had some success here as well, not necessarily in Pakistan, but in the sub-continent.

Disappointed

"We wanted to come away with a series levelling draw in this match, but we didn't, so we're disappointed. Everyone has learnt on the tour and cricket these days is a full time sport and these players have to get used to it and we as management staff have to find ways of making the boys recover and feel fresh so that they can play at the top of their game every time they are asked to by their boards."

West Indies and Pakistan are set to clash in the curtain-raising game of next year's Cricket World Cup, which bowls off on March 11 at Sabina Park, Jamaica.

King said, however, he did not believe the Windies loss had given Pakistan any psychological advantage ahead of that fixture.

"What this series has shown is that on any given day either of these sides can beat each other and in the World Cup we'll be ready for our match against Pakistan as I'm sure Pakistan will be ready for us," King contended.

"We've learnt a lot about the way they play and we've moved on since we played them in the West Indies (in 2005) and we're going to keep improving.

"In the World Cup, I think anyone can win at any given point in time. You have to play well for a series of games. The ICC Trophy showed that people who are ranked number eight can actually compete for the trophy.

"There are only two sides that played in the final and we happened to be one of them and that's what we're aiming for in the World Cup."