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Smith laments 'sloppy' fielding

Attitude behind below-par performance in the field, says Aussie skipper after Windies defeat

Captain Steve Smith has criticised Australia's "sloppy" fielding performance in their four-wicket loss to the West Indies in St Kitts on Tuesday morning (AEST).

Australia were comprehensively beaten at Warner Park, their total of 265 chased down with more than four overs to spare thanks to 92 from Windies star Marlon Samuels.

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The home side got off to a lightning start in the run chase as both Johnson Charles and Andre Fletcher took advantage of two dropped catches from Usman Khawaja and some loose bowling to plunder an opening stand of 74 in less than 10 overs.

WATCH: Samuels sparks Windies to big win 

Smith said the below-par performance of his side with the ball and in the field came down to attitude.

"It was just a pretty sloppy display altogether," the skipper said.

"We didn't bowl the right areas, we let them off a bit easy in that respect and we were sloppy with most of the things we did in the field as well.

"They came out playing their shots so credit to them, but I thought we were a fair way off our line and lengths and our fielding was pretty average in the first 10 overs of the game.

"When you're chasing 265 and you're 1-70 after 10 overs, you're well on your way.

"We've been doing the work (on our fielding) and we've been doing our best, but this isn't the standard the Australian cricket team sets so we've got a lot more work to do to improve it.

"We set ourselves high standards in the field and we want to be the best fielding team in the world. We've got a lot of work to do to get to that mark."

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Following Australia's first-up victory on this Qantas Tour of the West Indies in Guyana nine days ago, caretaker coaching Justin Langer mentioned his side's throwing as one of the few negatives to come out of a convincing six-wicket win over the home side.

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And with the side for Tuesday's match in St Kitts shorn of two of its best fielders - David Warner (injury) and Glenn Maxwell (dropped) - Smith couldn't hide his disappointment.

"I think it's an attitude thing," Smith said. "There's no reason why we shouldn't have been up for the challenge today.

"The guys just seemed a little bit flat out in the middle and it probably looked that way from the sidelines as well.

"We made some pretty costly errors pretty early in the game and they cost us a fair bit in the end.

"It's hard to put a finger on it. I guess it's just each individual looking at themselves in the mirror and making sure we have the attitude to get the job done.

"We're playing cricket for Australia, it's a privilege and an honour so there's no reason the guys can't be up for the fight and up for the challenge."

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In contrast, West Indies coach Phil Simmons praised the fielding performance of his side.

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"We're always looking to improve our fielding, which I think today was as good as it has been," he said.

"It's a good feeling to know that we beat Australia who are the world champions and the No.1 team in the world. It means we're moving in the right direction.

"It's always a confidence booster to beat Australia, but I think our confidence has been good through the whole series.

"Going into the first game it was tight because we hadn't played a proper one-day series for a while, but after the first game everyone settled down.

"We had a bad second game but we played well today and that's a boost."