West Indies Women

Chasing Pakistan’s Women’s 225-7, Taylor scored 102 not out after coming to the rescue of her team that has slumped to 15-3 within the first five overs.

Taylor shared in an 83-run fourth-wicket partnership with Hayley Matthews, who made 49, and then a match-winning unbroken partnership of 128 with Chedean Nation, who scored 51 not out, her maiden ODI half-century.

Taylor faced 117 balls for her score that included 12 fours while Nation struck seven boundaries facing 67 balls during the match-winning stand.

Anam Amin, who did the early damage by dismissing the in-form Diandra Dottin for 4 and Shemaine Campbelle for one, finished with 2-45 from her 10 overs. Diana Baig, who dismissed Rashada Williams for 6, returned figures of 1-36 from her eight overs.

Sadia Iqbal, who snagged Matthews’ wicket, finished with 1-36 from seven overs.

Earlier, sent in to bat, Pakistan Women owed their best score of the series to opener Muneeba Ali, who scored a patient 58. She and Ayesha Zafar staged an opening stand of 49 before the latter was out caught and bowled by Aaliyah Alleyne (2-41) for 13.

Ali and Javeria Khan put on 74 over the next 20 overs as the West Indies bowlers tightened their grip on the innings. Ali eventually fell to Taylor in the 31^st over with the score on 123. Six runs later, the pressure began to take a toll as Taylor ran Khan out for 13.

Two balls later, Alleyne picked up her second wicket when she bowled Omaima Sohail for 27.

Iram Javed and Aliya Riaz held up the progress of the West Indies bowlers with a 44-run fifth-wicket stand that was eventually broken when Javed was dismissed by Shakera Selman for 26.

Riaz would eventually get Pakistan Women past 200 with her unbeaten 44 that helped set up a decent total for the West Indies Women to chase.

Selman took the wicket of Fatima Sana for nine to end with figures of 2-40.

Baig was run out for nine off the last ball of the innings.

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.

Winning the toss and batting first, Ireland posted 203 all out in 50 overs. The star of the Irish innings was Gaby Lewis, who was stranded on 95 not out from 121 deliveries.

Lewis shared a 50-run partnership with Cara Murray which proved crucial in steadying the ship after Ireland had lost quick wickets.

Afy Fletcher 10-0-37-3 and Shamilia Connell 4-0-16-2 kept the Irish batters in check.

In response, the West Indies Women started their innings shakily, losing a few early wickets.

However, it was Stafanie Taylor who once again rescued her side. She notched her 40th ODI half-century while showcasing her experience and composure in a challenging situation.

 Taylor found a reliable partner in Chinelle Henry, who carried on her good form from the first ODI, hitting her second consecutive half-century.

Together, they put on a match-winning 104-run partnership, steering their team to a comfortable victory with 8.4 overs to spare.

This was captain Hayley Matthews first series win.

“I’m happy that we were able to get over the line in a series that we were looking to dominate,” she said.

“We earned valuable ICC Women’s Championship points, Stafanie is back in form and Chinelle is coming into her own along with debuts from our youngsters, I’d say those are some serious positives we can take away from this series.

“We all knew the potential Chinelle has and what we have been expecting from her, it’s great to see her scoring runs and I know there’s more to come.”

Taylor was awarded Player of the Match for her outstanding knock of 79 not out under pressure, while the Player of the Series was given to Hayley Matthews for her all-round performance.

 The two teams will now switch to the shorter format when the three-match T20 International series starts on Tuesday at the same venue. All matches will start at 5pm Eastern Caribbean time (4pm Jamaica time).

T20 International Series:

All matches start at 5pm Eastern Caribbean Time (4pm Jamaica Time)

Tuesday 4 July: 1st T20I

Thursday 6 July: 2nd T20I

Saturday 8 July: 3rd T20I

Taylor, the Player of the Match scored 105 from 116 balls and hit 11 fours and two sixes as the West Indies Women cruised to 209-5 from 47.5 overs, chasing Pakistan Women’s 205-9. It was Taylor’s sixth ODI century and she celebrated by signalling towards her teammates in the dressing room and raising her hands towards the heavens.

Taylor added a significant partnership sixth-wicket partnership of 42 with Britney Cooper to see the team home. After coming together at 167-5 in the 43rd over, they put on the unbroken stand during which Cooper played some breathtaking strokes over the off-side as she ended on 17 not out off 21 balls with three fours.

Earlier, Taylor was also excellent with the ball as she took 3-29 from her 10 overs to help restrict the Pakistan batters. Nida Dar top scored with 55 and there were worthwhile contributions from openers Muneeba Ali and Ayesha Zafar, who scored 36 and 46, respectively, and featured in an opening stand of 70 before the former was run out.

Anisa Mohammed took 2-31 and there was a wicket each for Shamilla Connell and Shakera Selmon

That’s Deandra Dottin – the amazing allrounder who had surgery on right shoulder on June 3, 2019, and she hasn’t played since then. Her last appearance for West Indies was a year ago against Pakistan in Dubai for the last match of the ODI series.

She’s now ready to put on the maroon outfit and suit up for the ICC Women’s World T20 in Australia.

In an emotional interview with CWI Media, Dottin opened up about her journey, the uncertainty and anxiety as she worked her way through rehab, and the long, hard days and nights on the road to recovery, and now happily back onto the field.

West Indies bid to win their second global event will start on February 22 with a match against newcomers Thailand at the WACA Cricket Ground in Perth, Western Australia. She will return to the line-up when West Indies have an unofficial warm-up match against Pakistan on Friday (Thursday 8pm Eastern Caribbean Time/7pm Jamaica Time). The West Indies will also have two other matches on Saturday and next Tuesday.

This is Dottin’s second major break from the game. Back in 2016, she sustained a facial injury while playing for Brisbane Heat in the Women’s Big Bash also in Australia. For the period immediately followed she played on using a protective face mask.

As she prepares to embark on the tour of duty Down Under, it will be her seventh time at the ICC T20 World Cup. She announced herself on the world stage back in 2010 – with a blistering century against South Africa in St Kitts – the first woman to make a century in the format. Her greatest moment in West Indies colours came was on the field at Eden Gardens, Kolkata when she hit the winning run for West Indies to beat Australia and secure their first world title.

Overall, the 28-year-old has had a stellar career with 2,833 runs in 117 ODIs and another 2,368 in 110 T20Is. Now she’s back in search of more major performances to showcase her prowess.

“One goal is to get better than before to carry the team further. The target is of course to win the World Cup, that would mean so much to us and the people of the West Indies. We have so many fans who love us and delicate a lot of time towards supporting us, so we want to repay them with something special like we did in 2016.”

This will be the second such month-long camp in 2021 assembled under the guidance of Head Coach Courtney Walsh and his support team.

With the ICC Women’s World Cup Qualifiers now rescheduled for December, Coach Walsh has devised a programme to maximize team preparations ahead of international cricket and the qualifiers later in the year.

“The purpose of this camp is to work on consistency and game awareness. The last camp was more observational, and we got a pretty good idea of where the ladies are at. There are 30 players coming in and a few of them are coming in nursing injuries, so the coaching staff and medical team are ready to work with all of them,” he said.

“We are going to use this camp to see as much of the players as possible. I am most excited to see the younger ones coming into the camp because we’re trying to build the pool of players available. So, I think it’ll be a great opportunity for these youngsters and the other new players to grasp the chance before them.”

Among the 30 players called up for the camp are eight (8) uncapped players including teenagers Zaida James from St. Lucia and Jannillea Glasgow from St. Vincent and the Grenadines. James is a left-arm medium-pacer while Glasgow is a right-arm medium pacer.

The other uncapped players are Rashada Williams, Caneisha Isaac, Shanika Bruce, Mandy Mangru and Rachel Vincent. Making a return to the camp is left-handed wicket-keeper/batter Kycia Knight.

CWI’s Lead Selector for Women’s cricket, Ann Browne-John was excited by the bigger pool of players for this camp.

 “It is very important to have the West Indies players back in a training camp as the coaches can continue to help them hone their skills as we prepare for our next series. Most of the top international teams have now restarted playing and it is critical for the WI team to prepare as we anticipate more international cricket coming up this summer,” she said while indicating that the camp will also focus on specific areas for development.

“In an effort to continue to unearth talent, eight players have been included who were not in the January camp. It serves as an opportunity for the coaches and selectors to look at some of the young up and coming players. Due to the pandemic, a regional tournament has not been held yet, so the players haven’t had the opportunity to impress the selectors in competitive matches.

“Heavy emphasis has been placed on batters including first-timers Rachel Vincent, an opening batter from Trinidad and Tobago, and Mandy Mangru, a young player from Guyana who has been impressive in the Under-19 tournament. The camp also includes two young teenage medium pacers, Zaida James and Jannillea Glasgow.”

Cricket West Indies (CWI) has been working closely with the Ministry of Health and the Ministry of Sport in Antigua & Barbuda to orchestrate logistics and agree on the safety protocols for the camp after the successful hosting of the first Women’s high-performance camp, the CG Insurance Super50 Cup and the West Indies Men’s International Home Series against Sri Lanka. All players and support staff were tested with negative COVID-19 results before their arrival in Antigua. The players and support staff will train and live in a bio-secure bubble for the duration of the camp.

Full squad: Aaliyah Alleyne, Reniece Boyce, Shanika Bruce, Shemaine Campbelle, Shamilia Connell, Britney Cooper, Deandra Dottin, Cherry Ann Fraser, Shabika Gajnabi, Jannillea Glasgow, Sheneta Grimmond, Shawnisha Hector, Chinelle Henry, Caneisha Isaac, Zaida James, Japhina Joseph, Qiana Joseph, Kycia Knight, Kyshona Knight, Mandy Mangru, Hayley Matthews, Anisa Mohammed, Chedean Nation, Karishma Ramharack, Kaysia Schultz, Shakera Selman, Steffi Soogrim, Stafanie Taylor, Rachel Vincent and Rashada Williams.

The team-management unit comprises Courtney Walsh - Head Coach; Sheena Gooding - Team Manager; Ryan Austin - Assistant Coach; Corey Collymore - Assistant Coach; Steve Liburd - Assistant Coach; Samantha Lynch - Assistant Coach; Robert Samuels - Assistant Coach; Neil Barry – Physiotherapist; Shayne Cooper - Strength & Conditioning

Latty-Scott was a member of the first West Indies team to play a women’s Test match in 1976 against Australia. After retirement, she was a coach at all levels and also an umpire.

During her career as an off-spinner and right-handed batter, Latty-Scott played 10 Test matches and six One-Day Internationals. She was the first West Indian woman to take five wickets in a Test innings – 5 for 48 off 41 overs on debut against the Australians in Montego Bay, Jamaica.

Ann Browne-John, CWI's Lead Selector for women's cricket and a former international player noted: "It is with great sadness we heard of the passing of Vivalyn Latty-Scott. She was always a fierce competitor and took her cricket very seriously. She taught us how to put our all into the game and paved the way for what we see today. She was an excellent cricketer. She was truly one of the stalwarts of women's cricket in the Caribbean."

Dorothy Hobson, who played alongside Latty-Scott for Jamaica and West Indies described her as a “dedicated and committed cricketer and lifelong fan of the game”. Louise Browne, the first West Indies women’s Test captain hailed Latty-Scott as a “passionate player with amazing knowledge of the game”.

“When I started as captain, ‘Latty’ was one of the senior members of that first West Indies women’s team and she excelled with bat and ball. Whenever I put the ball in her hand I had the confidence she would produce good figures and she never disappointed. She was passionate about the game and was always aware of the statistics and what the team required. When the history of women’s cricket is updated, Vivalyn must be mentioned among the outstanding players,” Browne said.

Hobson said: “She was a great captain for Jamaica and a great player for the West Indies. She was a complete player with bat and ball, equally adept at both skills. Cricket was ‘her game’, she was a dedicated and committed cricketer and she always had a dream of doing great things for the West Indies. Her legacy is that she contributed to the game at all levels — boys, girls, men, and women — she made a great impact at all levels.”

Stafanie Taylor, the current women’s captain and most successful women’s player in West Indies history also paid tribute to Latty-Scott.

“I have known this amazing lady from when I went on my first tour with the Jamaica team and she was very helpful to me. She set a trial in women’s cricket and she played a very important role in my development and inspired many young cricketers in Jamaica to play the game and to excel. We all admired and respected her.”

A decision will also be made on the 2^nd CG United ODI scheduled for Sunday 18 September subject to the impact of the storm.

Both teams want to ensure that, if possible, the full eight-match Series can be played since points won in the CG United ODI Series contribute towards the new ICC Women’s Championship which provides a direct pathway to qualification for the ICC Women’s Cricket World Cup in 2025. The T20 International (T20I) Series plays a key role in both teams’ preparations for the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup in 2023. It is also the West Indies Women’s first home international cricket since September 2021. ​

CWI Director of Cricket, Jimmy Adams said, “We have put player safety at the forefront of this decision and will be working very closely with New Zealand Cricket to protect all the internationals matches via a revised schedule if possible. We are very keen to get as much high-quality competitive cricket for our Women’s team as possible, especially in this period leading into next year’s Women’s T20 World Cup.”

Once the matches are rescheduled, fans will be purchase tickets for any of the matches at tickets.windiestickets.com, the official Windies Tickets service presented by Mastercard. For all matches, adults can purchase general admission tickets online at US$5.00, with free admission for children under the age of 16 when accompanied by a paying adult. Seniors benefit from half price tickets. The stadium ticket office will open on the day of the rescheduled 1^st CG United ODI with printed tickets available for EC$15.00/US$5.00.

All eight matches will be streamed live on the Windies Cricket YouTube channel. Live ball-by-ball scoring will also be available on the ​ www.windiescricket.com Match Centre. 

Djenaba Joseph and Trishan Holder have been called up as replacements for Shakera Selman, who has been ruled out and Chedean Nation, who sustained injuries during in the CG United ODI series that the home side lost 3-0.

Joseph and Holder are currently in Antigua for a high-performance camp with the U19 Rising Stars ahead of the ICC Women’s U19 World Cup in South Africa in January 2023.

Meanwhile, off-spinner Karishma Ramharack returns to the squad after missing the CG United ODI series due to injury.

“The upcoming T20 series is vitally important as the team continues its preparations for the World Cup in February 2023. With some of the senior players missing out through injury, it is an ideal opportunity for the other players to start cementing a place in the World Cup team,” said lead selector Ann Browne-John.

Full squad: Hayley Matthews (Captain), Shemaine Campbelle (Vice Captain), Aaliyah Alleyne, Afy Fletcher, Cherry Ann Fraser, Shabika Gajnabi, Sheneta Grimmond, Chinelle Henry, Trishan Holder, Djenaba Joseph, Kycia Knight, Karishma Ramharack, Kaysia Schultz and Rashada Williams.

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 13^th 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]."

After bowling England out for 260, the West Indies Women were skittled out for a 118 in just 31.3 overs to lose by 142 runs, a similar margin to the loss in the first ODI on Sunday in which England made 307-7 and then bowled the home side out for 165.

The result means England takes an unassailable 2-0 lead in the CG United One Day International series.

“In both games we haven’t batted well,” Walsh said after Tuesday’s humiliating defeat. “We were a lot better with the ball in this game on a good batting track and for the score where we had them at 260, I thought we would have batted better.”

Walsh reserved praise for Rashada Williams, who stood out among the batters.

“We lost those early wickets and just never recovered,” he said.

“The batters can take a lot from Rashada’s performance. I am pleased with how she went about it and showed that it can be done. We have a lot at stake with one game remaining and we need to get championship points. Our momentum is good but performance and execution, we have to try and get better.”

Batting first, England owed their competitive score to Amy Jones, who scored an unbeaten 70 and Sophia Dunkley’s unbeaten 57 as the local bowlers restricted England’s ability to build big partnerships.

Leading from the front Hayley Matthews took 3-50 and was supported by Afy Fletcher, who returned figures of 2-41 and Aaliyah Alleyne 2-47.

The West Indies Women’s reply got off to a disastrous start losing four wickets inside the first four overs with just eight runs on the board.

Williams offered the only real resistance with an unbeaten 54 that allowed the West Indies Women to push past 100 runs. Chedean Nation and Chinelle Henry with scores of 17 and 13, respectively, were the only other batters in double figures as Lauren Bell wreaked havoc taking 4-33.

Charlie Dean took 2-9 and there were also two wickets each for Sophie Ecclestone (2-25) and Kate Cross (2-35) in the rout.

The teams meet again on Friday, December 9 at the same venue.

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.”

“

According to the former West Indies fast bowler turned coach, the upskilling of the women will be a continuation of what began when the women were called to camp in January this year.

Over the past few years, West Indies Women, world champions in 2016, has fallen down the pecking order in world cricket, struggling to make high scores when players like Deandra Dottin, Stafanie Taylor or Hayley Matthews fail to make big scores.

This was evident when the West Indies were swept 5-0 during a five T20 series against England in September 2020, when the side failed to achieve a score of 140 runs in any of the matches. England, meanwhile, scored over 140 runs in all but one of the matches.

Walsh believes that for that trend to end the team cannot rely on just two or three players.

 “Consistency can’t be just three players. If we are playing six or seven batters, not everybody is to come off all the time but we need to have four or five batters to be consistently producing. It can’t be the same three all the time,” said Walsh, who also indicated that there are other areas in which they have to improve as well.

“They also have to be aware of the game situation, so we are going to combine both as we are going to have the batters being a lot more consistent and not just depend on two or three players.”

Walsh revealed that there are signs that the camp in January had already begun to yield positive indicators of the change required.

“We started some drills in the last camp so it will be a continuation of that. We saw where we were getting a little more consistency. We saw where we able to bat 50 overs because in the first game that didn’t happen but in the last two games that happened,” Walsh said referring to three intra-squad practice matches played while in the camp that month.

“I also think it was the mindset as well so those areas we are going to be working on, with the mental skills we are going to stay there (at the crease) and we want them to be technically sound as well to be able to deliver.”

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.

The loss marked the 9th match in a row for the regional team, who last tasted victory in a win over New Zealand in September.  Against South Africa, the team’s now familiar struggles at the crease came to the fore.

After holding the South Africans to 141 on a slow pitch, the West Indies could not get to triple digits as they were dismissed for 97.  Perhaps even more concerning was the team’s collapse from 32 without loss to 67 for 6.

“It’s clear we don’t score enough runs.  Not being able to put it together with big enough partnerships and get enough big scores, which is something we definitely need to win the big games that are crucial,” Matthews, who top scored for the team with 23 from 35 balls, said.  

“At the same time we have a lot of injuries, at the moment, with a lot of our key batters out but we are hoping we can get some more runs on the board in future games with the team that we have,” she added.

Ahead of the World Cup the team could be bolstered in the batting department by the return of star all-rounder Stafanie Taylor.  Taylor is close to returning from injury but not yet available for selection.

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 7^th 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.

The tourists first posted 132-5 from their 20 overs after being put in to bat.

Matthews led the way with a 49-ball 68 including 10 fours while Shemaine Campbelle provided good support with 31 against 2-22 from Fatima Sana.

Pakistan were then restricted to 130-8 from their 20 overs in reply.

Sidra Ameen led the way with 63 off 58 balls including seven fours.

Afy Fletcher took 2-20 from her four overs while Matthews completed a fine al-round performance with 2-22 from her four overs.

Pakistan at one point were cruising at 119-3 in the 18^th over before a pair of Matthews wickets led to a collapse saw the hosts losing their next five wickets for just six runs.

In the end, Shamilia Connell successfully defended 12 runs in the final over.

The West Indies now hold an unassailable 3-0 lead in the series with the final two games set for Thursday and Friday.

Full Scores: West Indies Women 132-5 (Hayley Matthews 68, Shemaine Campbelle 31, Fatima Sana 2-22)

Pakistan Women 130-8(Sidra Ameen 63, Afy Fletcher 2-20, Hayley Matthews 2-22)

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.