The West Indies backed into the semi-finals on the weekend when South Africa defeated India by three wickets, a result that eliminated India and sent the West Indies Women into wild celebrations.
However, looking ahead they have a difficult task ahead of them going up against the unbeaten Australians.
“Going into the game we know the quality team that Australia has but at the same time I don’t feel like there’s any pressure on us,” Matthews said in an interview on Sunday.
“We’re playing against the best team in the world and I think we’ve just got to go out there and play our natural game and have fun on the field. I think we perform better when we go out there and just have fun and enjoy ourselves.”
The team's celebrations after India was eliminated went viral and demonstrated just how important it was for the West Indies Women that they were able to advance to the semi-finals.
“It means a whole lot. I think coming into this World Cup, we were definitely underdogs. No one had us in the semi-finals. To be able to come here and exceed expectations has been amazing. Being able to beat some of the bigger teams, obviously, was massive on our list. Just really happy that we were able to get to the semi-finals,” she said.
Matthews is the Windies leading run-scorer and wicket-taker in the tournament so far with 226 runs and 10 wickets, respectively, and will be expected to play a major role if the Caribbean side are to pull off the upset against the Australian juggernaut on Tuesday.
The Caribbean side won the toss and elected to bat first on a pitch that seemed to offer both batters and bowlers an opportunity to shine.
Unfortunately, the Windies innings never got out of first gear after losing both Hayley Matthews (0) and Deandra Dottin (16) early.
Captain Stafanie Taylor did her best to bring stability to the innings with a trying 50 off 91 balls but her dismissal in the 41st over signalled the end of the West Indies resistance as they were swiftly bowled out for 131 after 46 overs.
Ellyse Perry was the pick of the Aussie bowlers with 3-22 off eight overs, while Ashleigh Gardner took 3-25 off 10.
Australia then coasted to their fourth straight win, getting to 132-3 off 30.2 overs with Rachel Haynes finishing not out on 83.
The West Indies now find themselves fifth on the points table with four points from four games, while Australia are first with a perfect eight points from their four encounters.
The West Indies will next tackle Bangladesh on Thursday.
By her normal standards, Dottin has had an average start to the tournament with the bat, scoring just 43 in two matches. An abundance of caution in regard to a recent shoulder injury also means the player has not bowled a lot of overs either. Despite that, however, Dottin has a knack for showing up when her team needs her.
On Wednesday, with England off to a solid start in pursuit of a below-par West Indies score of 225 for 6, Dottin flew high, at full stretch and with one hand, to pluck a hard cut shot from opener Laura Winfield-Hill out of the sky and give the team a crucial breakthrough.
In the team’s first match, against New Zealand, with the hosts needing just six in the last over Dottin, who had not bowled for the whole match, demanded the ball and promptly took two wickets and effected a run out to secure a dramatic win for the team.
“Deandra is one of the persons that set a high standard for herself in whatever aspect of the game she plays…I think that was a crucial moment in the game,” Mohammed told members of the media.
“Deandra is a game-changer, whether it is with bat or ball or in the field. It was a spectacular catch and I know we can expect more from Deandra.”
The 24-year-old Barbadian was the best of the West Indies Women with 260 runs including a match-winning century of 119 against New Zealand. She also took 10 wickets with her off-spin and had her best figures of 4-15 against Bangladesh.
Her performances played a major role in helping the West Indies Women advance to the semi-finals for the first time since 2013. As such, Cricket West Indies (CWI) congratulated Matthews on making the Most Valuable Team of the tournament.
Anne Brown-John, Lead Selector for Women’s Cricket also praised the team for their showing at the tournament and the strides made to finish among the top four and climb up the ICC Women’s ODIs standings.
“I will like to congratulate the team on reaching the World Cup semi-final. The team went into the competition in the lower half of the standings and ended in the top four,” she said.
“For this, the players and staff must be complimented. The selectors put together what we considered to be the best 18 available players for the World Cup and we are confident that they did their best. Everyone would like to get to the final but it did not happen this time.
“Despite this, there were some really remarkable performances and Hayley Matthews and Deandra Dottin were beacons resulting in Hayley being named to the ICC team of the World Cup. This is well deserved since she was one of the outstanding players of the tournament both with the bat and the ball. For this, she must be commended.”
Matthews, meanwhile, said her success at the World Cup was due mainly to hard work on her part.
“I’ve put a lot of hard work leading up to the tournament and to be selected to the Best XI is a reward for that,” she said.
“I must admit that it’s bittersweet because we didn’t make it to the final but the fight we’ve shown throughout the tournament signifies the growth we’ve had as a team.
“Getting a century is always a momentous occasion but getting a World Cup hundred was, I think, just a bit more special for me and definitely up there in being quite memorable. The opportunity to contribute with the ball as well has been really pleasing, knowing that if it doesn’t go my way with the bat on that day, I can still contribute otherwise.”
Meg Lanning was named captain of the Most Valuable Team after guiding her side to the title and scoring 394 runs during the tournament.
Four Australians were selected to the team, including Player-of-the-Tournament Alyssa Healy. The wicket-keeper-batter made two centuries in the knockout stages, including 170 in the final against England.
Most Valuable Team: Laura Wolvaardt (South Africa), Alyssa Healy (Australia) – wicket-keeper, Meg Lanning (Australia) – captain, Rachael Haynes (Australia), Nat Sciver (England), Beth Mooney (Australia), Hayley Matthews (West Indies), Marizanne Kapp (South Africa), Sophie Ecclestone (England), Shabnim Ismail (South Africa), Salma Khatun (Bangladesh) and 12th-woman Charlie Dean (England).
The match was reduced to 45 overs per team after a rain delay before the toss which the West Indies won the toss and elected to field first.
Australia’s opening pair of Alyssa Healy and Rachael Haynes got off to a slow start while assessing conditions before putting the Windies bowlers to the sword once they got comfortable.
The two ended up putting on a mammoth 216 before Healy was dismissed for a blistering 129 off just 107 balls in the 33rd over.
Healy's innings included 17 fours and one six.
Haynes eventually got to 85 off 100 balls before she became the second wicket to fall with the score on 231 in the 36th over.
Captain Meg Lanning (26 not out) and Beth Mooney (43 not out) then continued the attack for the Australians before the innings closed with them amassing 305-3 off their 45 overs.
Chinelle Henry was the only West Indian who had a decent showing with the ball, taking 2-51 off her nine overs.
The Windies started their reply already at a disadvantage as Anisa Mohammed and Chinelle Henry were both unable to bat after sustaining injuries in the field.
Captain Stafanie Taylor (48), Hayley Matthews (34) and Deandra Dottin (34) were the only West Indian batters to pass double figures as Australia were equally dominant with the ball, restricting the Windies to 148-8 to secure a 158-run win and advance to the final.
Jess Jonassen took 2-14 off five overs.
Australia will be looking for their seventh ICC Women’s Cricket World Cup title and first since 2013 when they play the winner of the second semi-final between South Africa and defending champions England.
The second semi-final takes place on Wednesday in Christchurch.
Despite only being able to post 140/9 from their 50 overs at Bay Oval, the Caribbean side was able to use all their experience to bowl Bangladesh out for 136 in reply for their third win of the tournament.
Needing eight runs from the final six balls, with just one wicket in hand, Bangladesh were held in check by West Indies captain Stafanie Taylor who once again came up with a big-time performance as Fariha Trisna fell for a duck on the third ball of the over to hand West Indies a narrow win.
All-rounder Hayley Matthews (4/14), who received player of the match honours, and Afy Fletcher (3/29) that did the majority of the damage with the ball, but the team would have been nowhere without a strong effort at the crease from wicketkeeper Shemaine Campbelle (53*) who propped up a batting innings that had failed to spark.
Bangladesh spinners Salma Khatun (2/23) and Akter (2/23) were the top bowlers for the South Asian team, while skipper Nigar Sultana (25) was the equal top-scorer in a low-scoring innings.
The win sees West Indies jump to third on the standings with three victories from five games, while Bangladesh remain seventh.
For the Caribbean team, Campbelle's half-century was the sole highlight, as Deandra Dottin (17), Matthews (18), and Taylor (4) all fell cheaply. With the team desperate for early wickets to defend the small total it was Matthews that took up the challenge, trapping Shamima Sultana Lbw for a duck in the opening over of the chase.
Fargana Hoque (23) and Sultana looked assured at the crease as they took the score along to 60/2, but Fletcher's three-wicket haul during the middle overs turned the game on its head as the score quickly went to 60/5.
Matthews returned to pick up two more wickets - including the key scalp of Sultana - before Taylor came through with the goods in the final over to seal the result.
Nat Sciver-Brunt’s half-century helped the hosts post 228 for seven from their 50 overs in front of a bumper crowd at the home of cricket.
Opener Punam Raut looked set to lead India home as they reached 191 for three, but Anya Shrubsole dismissed her 14 runs short of a century and went on to finish with figures of six for 46 to bowl England to victory.
The final had been a repeat of the second match of the tournament, which India won by 35 runs, but Heather Knight’s team went on to win their remaining six group fixtures to top the standings and progress into the last four of the competition.
It set up a semi-final meeting with South Africa and England chased down 219 thanks a run-a-ball 27 not out from Jenny Gunn.
Knight won the toss and decided to bat first in the final, with Lauren Winfield-Hill (24) and Tammy Beaumont (23) helping England make a strong start before Sarah Taylor joined forces with Sciver-Brunt in a vital 83-run partnership for the third wicket.
Taylor was dismissed for 45 and Sciver-Brunt went for 51, but Katherine Sciver-Brunt smashed 34 down the order alongside Gunn’s important unbeaten 25 to set India 229 for victory.
India opener Raut and Harmanpreet Kaur, who was out for 51, moved their nation into a position of strength, but Shrubsole sparked a dramatic finale with a sensational spell of bowling.
Raunt was pinned in front lbw for 86 to leave India on 191 for four with 38 more runs required from 43 balls.
The pressure proved too much with Shrubsole dismissing Veda Krishnamurthy, Jhulan Goswami, Deepti Sharma and finally Rajeshwari Gayakwad to earn England home success in the 11th World Cup.
After a thriller in the opening day of the ICC Women's Cricket World Cup, fans were treated to yet another close encounter. Defending 311, Australia managed to hold their nerve with England needing 16 off the last over. Jess Jonassen gave away just three runs as the Aussies put their first points on board in the World Cup standings.
While several Aussie bowlers chipped in with wickets, it was Alana King who turned the game in the middle overs with three wickets, including the important scalp of Tammy Beaumont. LoadureFullscreen
Chasing a daunting target of 311, Australia, through Megan Schutt, dented England early in the innings with the wicket of Lauren Winfield-Hill for a duck. Annabel Sutherland took a brilliant diving catch, plucking the ball inches off the ground to give the Aussies the early breakthrough.
England captain Heather Knight and Tammy Beaumont took a couple of overs to get their eye in but made up for it in the Powerplay, finishing on 53/1 at the end of 10 overs.
Beaumont raced to a fifty off 54 deliveries but Knight fell 10 runs short of the milestone – Tahlia McGrath forced a soft dismissal as the skipper was caught at covers, thus ending a brilliant 92-run partnership between the pair.
Nat Sciver and Beaumont had to rebuild the innings again after the dismissal, but the wicket of the England opener pegged them back. With a brilliant leg break that would have made the late Shane Warne proud, Alana King beat Beaumont in the air and off the surface and Alyssa Healy did the rest behind the stumps.
One brought two for King as Amy Jones departed soon without troubling the scorers much. At the other end, Sciver brought up her half-century but kept losing partners, Danni Wyatt this time departing for 7.
Sciver and Sophia Dunkley led England's recovery with a 55-run stand for the sixth wicket. It looked like the partnership could take England home but King once again broke through, bowling Dunkley around the legs.
With Katherine Brunt keeping her company, Sciver put the foot on the accelerator as the required rate climbed to almost 10 and brought up her 100.
With the equation down to 26 off the last two, McGrath and Jess Jonassen held their nerve. The former gave away just 10 from the penultimate over and Jonassen picked two wickets in the final over, including a stunning return grab to dismiss Brunt, as England fell 12 runs short.
Earlier in the day, a 196-run stand for the second wicket between Rachael Haynes and Meg Lanning formed the crux of the innings. Haynes went on to make a brilliant 130 – her second ODI century – while Lanning was dismissed for 86 by Katherine Brunt.
Stafanie Taylor, one of the leading all-rounders in the history of the game, will lead the squad with off-spinner Anisa Mohammed as vice-captain for her fifth Cricket World Cup.
The squad includes several exciting young players who will be competing at the marquee event for the first time. These are spinner Karishma Ramharack, fast bowler Aaliyah Alleyne, seamer Cherry Ann Fraser, allrounder Chinelle Henry, and opening batter Rashada Williams.
The 15-member squad will be joined by three traveling reserves, Kaysia Schultz, Mandy Mangru, and Jannillea Glasgow as per the ICC’s medical protocols for the tournament.
“The squad selected shows a blend of youth and experience. We have Anisa Mohammed who’s playing in her fifth World Cup and will help guide the younger ones selected. We have five players who have had their maiden Cricket World Cup selection. The team just completed a series against South Africa where the players got good preparation before the tournament. There were some relatively good showings with a few players having outstanding performances and it is expected that they would raise their levels even further during the competition. Afy Fletcher’s return strengthens the bowling department as she continues to be a world-class leg-spinner,” CWI’s Lead Selector for Women’s cricket Ann Browne-John said.
The eight-team tournament will start with a group stage round, where all teams play each other once before the top four sides compete in the semi-finals and finals.
The West Indies Women will open their title chase against host country New Zealand on March 4 at Bay Oval in Tauranga. Their seventh and final match of the group stage is against South Africa on March 24 at Basin Reserve in Wellington. Semi-final one will be played on March 30 at Basin Reserve in Wellington, with semi-final 2 on March 31 at Hagley Oval in Christchurch. The final will be played on April 3 at Hagley Oval in Christchurch.
The full squad is as follows: Stafanie Taylor (Captain), Anisa Mohammed (Vice-Captain), Aaliyah Alleyne, Shemaine Campbelle, Shamilia Connell, Deandra Dottin, Afy Fletcher, Cherry Ann Fraser, Chinelle Henry, Kycia Knight, Hayley Matthews, Chedean Nation, Karishma Ramharack, Shakera Selman, Rashada Williams. Travelling Reserves: Kaysia Schultz, Mandy Mangru, Jannillea Glasgow
“We want to relish the moment and go out there and play hard cricket,” the all-rounder said in a pre-match press conference on Monday.
The match will be played in Wellington where the West Indies have been awaiting their fate since their last group match against South Africa was rained out last Wednesday.
“We’ve been here for a while now. We’ve been getting used to conditions in the nets so hopefully that should help us in how we play. We just have to take it how it comes and play like a final and, hopefully, we come out on top,” she said.
There was a time not too long ago when a World Cup semi-final seemed like an unreachable dream for the Caribbean side but Taylor says changes over the last couple years have helped the team grow.
“We’ve had some changes to our team and a new coaching staff. I believe the work they’ve been doing with us has changed the way we go about our game,” she said.
“I think we have come a long way. It may not show as much with the score sheet but I feel like we’ve come a long way looking back on series we’ve played. The coaching staff has contributed so much to where we are. I thought we had a really good start to the tournament and hopefully that’s something we could use to get us through in this back-end. Everyone is fit and rearing to go,” Taylor added.
The West Indies will be looking to reach their second World Cup final after being runners up in 2013, losing the final to Australia by 114 runs.
Speaking in an interview with Andrew Mason, Walsh, who was appointed as head coach in October 2020 after previously serving as assistant coach to Gus Logie, expressed his confidence and outlined that while the team has played well in stages, they still haven’t put it all together.
“I’m very confident. I think the team deserves to be in the semis. We’ve played some very good cricket while we’ve been here and we still haven’t put it together as a team like we know we can do so this will be the right game to get that started so I’m pretty confident that once we execute and play to our potential, we’ll have a very good game,” he said.
The West Indies got a few days rest after their last game against South Africa last Wednesday, something Walsh says has done the team well.
“We had a couple days away from it which has done us some good. It’s the first break we’ve had since the start of the competition so we had a couple of days where some of the main players were not required to come to practice to give them a chance to recover and the girls who weren’t playing much cricket had a chance to come out and get some decent practice as well. We’re in a good space at the moment,” he said.
“There’s no major concern. We know the areas that we haven’t done well in and the coaches have been trying very hard to get everybody up to speed,” was Walsh’s response when asked about any concerns he had going into the semi-final.
The West Indies will be aiming to advance to their second Women's World Cup final after finishing as runners-up in 2013 in India.
He also revealed that there are concerns about the fitness of opener Deandra Dottin, who suffered an injury in the match against India but remained hopeful she will be fit to face Australia.
It was a disappointed Walsh that faced the media on Monday when he conceded that the West Indies Women did not play well against India.
“We had one really bad game against India. I think India did pretty well against us and it’s something that we have to look at,” Walsh said, adding that India should not have scored as many as the 317-8 they put on the board before bowling the West Indies Women out for 162.
“It was not a 320 pitch I think; when I looked at it. I thought if we could restrict them to 270-250. We didn’t execute as well as we could have or should have.”
In reply, the West Indies Women got off to a good start reaching 100-0 in the 13th over before everything went off the rails.
“It was a decent batting track, I thought, at the start of it and they did make full use of it. They’ve got a little bit more turn as the game went on. But that doesn’t make it any issue is we just executed poorly (sic)," Walsh said.
"The team knows that once you play well enough, we can beat any team, so we are hopeful we are going to play good cricket [on Tuesday]."
In their opening match against the hosts on March 4, the West Indies scored 259-9 thanks mainly to Hayley Matthews’ sublime 119. However, Dottin who opened the innings with her, made only 12 while Taylor scored 30.
In the second match against England on March 9, Dottin made 31 and Taylor 0 as the West Indies made 225-6. In that match that the West Indies dramatically won by seven runs, it was Shemaine Campbelle’s 66 and Chedean Nation’s unbeaten 49 that spurred the West Indies to their winning total.
However, despite the relative lack of runs from two of the big three, Head Coach Courtney Walsh said he was not overly concerned about the misfiring duo expressing confidence that they will eventually come good.
“In the two games we have played we have gotten competitive scores. Obviously, you would want to see Stafanie firing and a Diandra firing but if they can fire at the right time for us while Hayley and the others are carrying the batting, then that is good, so I am not much perturbed their chance will come and when it comes you want them to step up,” Walsh said during a media session Wednesday.
“So it’s good when the like of Campbelle and Nation can step up to the plate and prove their worth. I would like for Kycia Knight to get a decent score as well to give her some confidence. She came into the competition with some runs from the previous tour and in the warm-up games so I think she just needs a decent score to give her some confidence and if we can get that then the batting would be showing a lot more solidarity, but I am not overly concerned.”
What is troubling the fast-bowling great turned coach is the number of catches the West Indies Women have put down in their two matches so far. As many as nine catches have been floored by the Caribbean women, some of which have proved costly.
Chinelle Henry dropped New Zealand middle-order batter Sophie Devine early in her innings and the player capitalized in the best possible way scoring 108. Henry eventually redeemed herself when she caught Devine off her own bowling to pave the way for the West Indies' narrow three-run win.
Walsh admitted Wednesday that the number of dropped catches is a worry.
“I am a little more concerned about the number of dropped catches because can’t keep dropping so many catches, it might come back to haunt us and hurt us,” he said.
“We have taken some fantastic ones as well so we don’t want to write that off but I am a little more concerned about the catches we have been putting down; if it’s the conditions or we’re just not backing ourselves but I think the effort they have shown in yesterday’s game, even though we still put down a couple, it shows that they are still committed to trying to take these catches and I am happy with that.
“It might be a little bit cold on the fingers but we have to do what we have to do when we get out to play.”
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The team will bowl off its campaign with a match against hosts New Zealand on Thursday at 8:00 pm. Not known for their exploits in the format, the West Indies will not be listed among the favourites but Matthews believes the team has made progress in the last year and will still have the experience and capability to ruffle some feathers.
“For a period of time we were kind of stuck when it came to 50-over cricket, maybe not progressing as much as we wanted to, but I do believe in the last year we have made massive leaps,” Matthews told the ICC channel.
“I think our biggest strength is probably the experience we have in the team. We have so many veterans from Deandra Dottin, Stafanie Taylor, Anisa Mohammed, and the list goes on. I think we have people we can rely on in tough situations and they always know how to really breakthrough and take us to the next level," she added.
The team’s captain Taylor and Dottin will be taking part in their fourth tournament, while Mohammed will be taking part in her fifth.
On Friday, the Caribbean team managed to secure their third win of the campaign with a narrow four-wicket victory over Bangladesh, but the team’s performance at the crease made it far from a straightforward affair.
Batting first, the Windies Women could only put up 140 for 9 on the board, but that was in large part due to wicketkeeper Shemaine Campbelle’s staunch 53 in the middle order. At one point, the team found itself at 70 for 7 before gritty middle and lower order resistance presented a defendable target.
In fact, despite being third in the table, the West Indies have the second-worst run net run rate in the standings, just ahead of last place Pakistan. Ahead of the Pakistan encounter, Matthews knows the team needs to improve, even after the euphoria of the much-needed win over Bangladesh.
“Just looking at it everyone knew we didn’t get enough runs on the board. We definitely need to be doing better in that aspect. At the same time, we knew we could have gone out there and defended the runs by bowling in the right areas. Keeping the stumps in play was very, very important," Matthews told members of the media.
“We managed to do that well today, but at the same time we definitely need to do better with the bat if we’re going to have any chance at this World Cup.”
Finding themselves plagued with issues of inconsistency all tournament, the West Indies Women will face South Africa in a must-win encounter at Basin Reserve. On the back of a devastating loss to previously winless Pakistan, the team currently finds itself in the last semi-final spot and must hope for other results to go their way. The team has played one more game than England.
The South Africans have on the other hand been in solid form, with their only loss so far coming against top-ranked Australia, who are yet to lose a match.
“They’ve obviously been playing very good cricket. The only team that has beaten them is Australia, but at the same time we have played a lot of cricket against South Africa over the last few months,” Matthews told the Mason and Guest radio program.
“We played them at home in a series last year and before coming here (World Cup) we had a pretty good series as well, unfortunately, we lost the series but if a few things had gone our way, the rain-affected it and stuff like that, it would have looked like a different result,” she added.
“We know they have some dangerous players and we know all of them really well, we know what we need to do in this match as well. What’s going to be really important against them is getting some runs on the board.”
The West Indies got off to a strong start to the tournament with wins over hosts New Zealand and England but crushing losses to India and Australia, in subsequent matches, has since halted that momentum.
With three games remaining the team sits just outside of the semi-final slots and, as such, a win against currently 7th place Bangladesh could be crucial to the Caribbean’s team’s chances of advancing to the final four.
“We can see that they are very competitive, so we are just going to go out there and give our best. We are not going to underestimate them. We are just going to go out there and play our game,” Connell told members of the media on Thursday.
“We see that they have been putting on some very good scores and they beat Pakistan. Pakistan was one of the teams we were looking to give them a challenge, but we will be going out there to play our A-Game,” she added.
Bangladesh secured their first win of the tournament after beating Pakistan by 9 runs on Sunday. After today’s encounter, the West Indies will have matches against Pakistan and South Africa who are yet to lose a match.
India won the toss and decided to bat first, getting to 258 all out from their 50 overs with Smriti Madhana top-scoring, with 66 off 67 balls, and Deepti Sharma getting 51 from 64 deliveries.
Cherry Ann-Fraser (2-24 off 5 overs), Karishma Ramharack (2-50 off 10 overs), and Hayley Matthews (2-47 off 8 overs) were the best bowlers for the Windies.
Despite a top score of 63 from Shemaine Campbelle and 44 from Hayley Matthews, the West Indies chase never got out of first gear and they were eventually restricted to 177-9 off their 50 overs.
Pooja Vastrakar was the pick of the Indian bowlers with 3-21 off seven overs while Meghna Smith, Deepti Sharma, and Rajeshwari Gayakwad all took two wickets each.
The West Indies will kick off their World Cup campaign on Thursday against hosts New Zealand at Mount Maunganui.
In the match reduced to 20 overs per side because of persistent rain and a wet outfield, the West Indies were restricted to 89-7. Deandra Dottin, who scored 27, Stafanie Taylor, 18, and Afy Fletcher, 12, were the only batters in double figures as Nida Dar tore through the line-up with 4-10 from her four overs.
Pakistan duly achieved their target without much fuss as opener Muneeba Ali scored 37. Captain Bismah Maroof was unbeaten on 20 and Omaima Sohail 22 not out to lead their team to victory with seven balls to spare.
Shakera Selman with 1-15 from 3.5 overs and Fletcher 1-23 were the wicket-takers for the West Indies Women, who will now face a must-win match against unbeaten South Africa if they are to have any chance to advance.
In what was a must-win match for the Caribbean women, Captain Stafanie Taylor won the toss and asked South Africa to bat.
It proved to be the correct decision as Chinelle Henry took 3-11 and was backed up by Shamilia Connell, who took 1-18 as South Africa lost four wickets for just 22 runs by the sixth over. However, the situation could have been worse for South Africa as the West Indies dropped three chances in those early overs, two of them by Deandra Dottin.
Through the efforts of Mignon du Preez and Marizanne Kapp, South Africa began to fight back as the pair shared in an unbroken partnership of 39 before the rains came. Du Preez, who hit three fours in a row off Hayley Matthews’s first over that yielded 15 runs before the rains came, was unbeaten on 38 from 31 balls and Kapp on five with South Africa on 61-4.
Both teams earned one point each. With it, the West Indies Women move to third on the standings with 7 points and now await the outcome of the South Africa-India match on March 27. Should South Africa win, the West Indies will secure a semi-final berth, should India win, then the West Indies will be eliminated.
“It's not the way we liked. can't do much about it, something we can't control,” said a concerned Taylor, who praised Henry afterwards.
“We were hoping that we would have had a game. The bowlers have been doing a fantastic job, For Chinelle, there's something about South Africa, she always does well, she takes wickets.
I tossed her the ball and she was in great rhythm. We will probably have some popcorn, hope that South Africa do beat India for us to give it a chance. It's something we can't control but do hope it goes our way.”
The West Indies Women’s captain conceded that their inconsistent form has led them to this situation where the team’s destiny is not within its own hands.
“Probably other than the first two games we have played we have been iffy. Travelling does put a dent in that, you don't get much recovery time, we are trying our best to recover,” she said.
“Niggles do creep in at times, it's about managing them. It's never easy when you are travelling around. If we go to the semis, you just have to go out and play, does not matter if it's a niggle or an injury, you have to step up. It comes down to how badly you want it.”
West Indies Women's all-rounder Deandra Dottin shared some of her captain’s concerns but remained optimistic.
"We knew coming into this tournament that it was going to be tough. We had to travel after every game so consistency was difficult,” she said.
“We played good cricket, we just didn't put enough runs on the board in some games. The girls are still in good spirits; we always have that never die attitude. We just have to look forward now. The tournament is still playing so not all is lost just yet."
