Khawaja eyeing improved show after 'horrendous' fielding

Australian opener Usman Khawaja has admitted that he made 'horrendous' fielding efforts in his side's loss to the West Indies in the Caribbean tri-series but vowed to put up a sharper performance in the field when they take on the hosts and South Africa in Barbados in their bid to book a place in the final.

Khawaja, who was the top scorer for Australia with 98, dropped two early catches during his side's four-wicket defeat to the West Indies in St. Kitts on Monday.

The 29-year-old was at mid-on when he missed a chance to dismiss Andre Fletcher before dropping a sitter in the eighth over to reprieve Johnson Charles. Both batsmen went on to make a solid 74-run stand for the opening wicket which eventually proved to be too costly for the tourists.

"Sometimes you just have horrendous games, you just can't do anything about it," Khawaja was quoted as saying by cricket.com.au.

"I'm not the first person to drop a catch. It happens. You try and move on as quickly as possible.

"Obviously it's a big part of cricket. A big part of what we do well. If we're fielding well, we usually win games so it's quite important," the left-hander added.

Earlier this year, former skipper Ian Chappell also slammed Australia's fielding by describing the Steve Smith-led side as 'the worst Australian fielding side since the mid 80s'.

Khawaja was speaking during his side's first training session at Kensington Oval in Barbados, where their primary focus was fielding.

Australia will play their next match against South Africa at Bridgetown on Sunday.