Windies Women

Walsh was appointed last week in the wake of a disappointing tour against England where the Caribbean women were swept 5-0 in an embarrassingly lopsided series.

Walsh, the only West Indies bowler to take 500 Test wickets, said he has a plan to inject a winning mentality into the team.

“There is room for improvement in all aspects of the game. My idea and plan and strategy is to re-focus, re-energize and to look at the talented players we have and work out how we can improve with the players we have and other young players to come into the set-up as well,” he said.

“To try to create that brand that we know we can play, that we used to play, going back a few years when we won the T20 world Cup in India and couple years ago when we were in the semi-finals and were doing so well.

“That is going to come from consistency, how we plan, how we strategize, how we execute and get our tactical awareness up. I’m not going to leave any stones unturned. I’m going to go right through everything to ensure we give ourselves the very best chance. We have a good solid base of players. Obviously, we have to perform. Those teams with players who perform get the best results.”

Walsh said he wants the players to go back to enjoying their cricket and that means working on building team confidence.

“I want to see them smiling again. The whole idea is to give them self-confidence and self-belief that they have a job to do and perform,” he said. “Once the players believe in themselves and they are smiling and enjoying the game that’s the right path.

“You will have some bad patches and failures here and there but that consistency and that will and pride to play for the West Indies is what I want to see more of.”

Against top-ranked Australia, the Windies found very little joy and suffered a lopsided 7-wickets loss in their fourth match of the tournament.  Prior to that, the team struggled to deal with India’s powerful batting line-up in a 155-run defeat.

The results stand in sharp contrast to the Caribbean women's heady start to the tournament, which featured victories over New Zealand and England.  It is those victories, however, that Matthews believes stands the team in good stead, despite its recent patch of bad form.

“Coming into this tournament we knew our first four games were likely going to be the hardest.  We kind of said to ourselves if we can get two or three wins out of these four games we would be in a strong position and we’ve done exactly that,” Matthews told members of the media.

“Looking at the rest of the games, these are games we should expect to win and the good thing about it is that things are still in our hands. If we go out there and we can win all three of our games we will be qualifying for the semi-finals,” she added.

The West Indies will face Bangladesh, Pakistan, and South Africa in their remaining three matches.

“I don’t think there is much pressure at the moment.  We know we have the kind of team that once we go out there and play our best cricket we will get the wins.”

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, who briefly took part in the qualifiers, will get their campaign underway against host New Zealand on Friday, with few having the team among the favourites to win the title.  For one, the West Indies have never won the tournament with their best result coming in 2013 when they finished runners-up to Australia.

Nor is the team’s record in the format particularly impressive.  Over the last five years, the team has won just 3 of the last 14 series.  In that run of games, they played 46 matches, winning 15, drawing 2, and losing 27 with 2 no results.  Taylor, however, believes the team has shown improvement in recent months, with two of those wins coming in the last year.

“I think we're making strides (in the ODI format),” Taylor told members of the media.

"For us, it is more about improving every time and getting better at that,” she added.

The team has, however, never beaten New Zealand with their last encounter ending in a chastening 205 runs defeat to close out a 3-0 series defeat in 2018.

“We’re pretty excited about that. You probably wouldn't want to play the hosts in the first game but it is what it is,” Taylor said.

“I think for us, we have to go out there and play to the best of our abilities. You can see New Zealand doing pretty well, we've had a lot of cricket to look at, so hopefully we could get one over them."

Missing from the squad is spinner Anisa Mohammed who declined the invitation to join the squad while Kaysia Schultz is the only newcomer.

The touring party, who will all be tested for COVID-19 this week, is scheduled to fly to England on a private charter on August 30.

The West Indies Women’s squad will live, train and play in a “bio-secure” environment during the four weeks of the tour, as part of the comprehensive medical and operations plans to ensure player and staff safety which will restrict movement in and out of the venues.

Fourteen players of the touring party were part of the West Indies Women’s squad that participated at the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup in Australia, earlier this year.

“It is with pleasure that we are able once again to have our West Indies Women's team involved at the International level. This tour to England gives our players a great opportunity,” said Lead Selector for Women’s and Girls Cricket, Ann Browne-John.

“The larger 18-member squad also gives an opportunity to have young developing players involved, like the two players from Guyana, left-arm bowler Kaysia Shultz and all-rounder Shabika Gajnabi. It also gives the opportunity to the young Trinidadian off-spinner Karishma Ramharack to get some international experience.”

CWI’s Director of Cricket Jimmy Adams said CWI was grateful for the opportunity provided by the England and Wales Cricket Board.

“CWI is pleased to be restarting its international women’s program with a tour to England, where the standard of women’s cricket has grown tremendously. We thank the ECB for their invitation and the added opportunity to travel with a larger squad affords us the chance to introduce a few younger players to this level of the game, and fast track their development,” he said.

“With so much uncertainty surrounding cricket scheduling currently, this is a timely opportunity for our women to resume competitive cricket at the highest level.”

 West Indies Women are scheduled to arrive in Derby on August 31 and will be based in at the Derbyshire Cricket Ground for the duration of the tour.

Full squad: Stafanie Taylor, Afy Fletcher, Hayley Matthews, Aaliyah Alleyne,  Cherry-Ann Fraser, Natasha McLean, Shemaine Campbelle, Shabika Gajnabi, Chedean Nation, Britney Cooper, Sheneta Grimmond, Karishma Ramharack, Shamilia Connell,  Chinelle Henry, Kaysia Schultz, Deandra Dottin, Lee Ann Kirby and Shakera Selman.

Tour schedule:

Monday, September 21:            1st Vitality IT20, England v West Indies

 Wednesday, September 23:     2nd Vitality IT20, England v West Indies

Saturday, September 26:          3rd Vitality IT20, England v West Indies

Monday, September 28:           4th Vitality IT20, England v West Indies

Wednesday, September 30:      5th Vitality IT20, England v West Indies

Electing to bat first the Windies Women complied just 125 with the DLS further reducing the target to 110.  Pakistan were 103 for 6 when the rain stopped the match.

The West Indies effort was built on the backbone of Chedean Nation and Kycia Knight, who put together a 32-run stand from 26 balls for the fifth wicket.  The batsmen were 28 and 30 not out respectively, after forming the partnership at 69 for 4 in the 14th over.

In pursuit, Pakistan got off to a tough start after the top three were sent back to the pavilion with just 25 runs on the board.  Pakistan had five run-outs, with Nida Dar top-scoring with 28.  West Indies Women coach Courtney Walsh admits he is hoping for a clean sweep.

“I don’t expect any complacency to set in. Winning is a habit to have and I want us to go out and focus on us winning the series comprehensively,” Walsh said, following the match.

At the World Cup, the West Indies Women, champions in 2016, failed to play to expectations, losing two of their four matches thus failing to advance from their Group B that contained Thailand, England, Pakistan and South Africa.

Matthews’ form was equally poor with scores of 16, 0, and 10 as the West Indies fell to Pakistan and England. Their match against South Africa was rained out. Their only win came against minnows, Thailand.

The Barbadian sees the coming England series as an opportunity for the team whose players are eager to set right the wrongs of February 2020.

“I think as a team we are going to want to come out here and redeem ourselves and be able to show that we are not the team that played that World Cup, that we are a lot better than that,” she said.

The 22-year-old all-rounder said the break that followed the World Cup debacle was a welcome one.

“It was a difficult World Cup. It was good that everyone got that mental break and had a look at what we weren’t doing so well,” she said during an online interview session on Monday from the United Kingdom where the team is preparing for their five-match T20 series that is set to begin on September 21.

On a personal level, Matthews said she used the time off to work on her game.

“I was able to get back in the nets and work really hard at my game, was able to sort out some stuff that I saw going wrong technically and hopefully I am able to go out and execute those skills that I have been working on over the past couple of months,” she said.

The team that arrived in England last week, has been preparing well, she said, and being in isolation has allowed the players to focus on their game and the series ahead.

“I think it’s been pretty comfortable. From the first day we came in we know what the protocols were. We were told and given everything we needed so it was just a matter of coming down here and getting into the training,” she said.

“(The conditions) are a bit helpful, kind of limits distractions and you get to focus on the cricket a bit more.”

The regional team claimed the ICC Women’s World Cup with a surprise won over Australia in 2016.  Since then, not only have the Windies failed to win another title but seem increasingly unable to compete with the game’s biggest teams.

At the 2020 ICC Women's T20 World Cup the team failed to advance from the group stage after winning just one game.  In September of last year, the team found itself on the wrong side of a one-sided 5-0 loss at the hands of England.  Collymore, the specialist bowling coach, believes that based on their talent the Windies could once again be battling against the top teams, but it will take work.

“As I said to them, it will take some work.  I was with the U19s in 2016 but now being here with these ladies, and judging from England, I spoke to them and I said our overall game definitely needs some serious work,” Collymore told members of the media.

“We’ll put that in, but it will take time.  We’re not here to say you need five years or whatever the case may be, but we need a pool of players that we can put some consistent work in, then we can be able to choose a squad that will be able to go forward and deliver performances like the one in 2016.”

The team, which has been inactive since September, is currently at a training camp in Antigua with one eye on the World Cup qualifiers later this year.

The CG Insurance Super50 Cup matches will be played at three venues – Everest Cricket Club, Enmore Cricket Ground and the Guyana National Stadium from June 7 to 17.

The T20 Blaze event will feature five full days of entertainment for the fans from June 19 to 25. There will be three matches per day – starting at 10 am 2:30 pm and 7 pm under lights at the Guyana National Stadium.

For this year’s CG Insurance Super50 and the T20 Blaze, several world-class players will be representing their home territories in what promises to be a keenly contested three weeks of action. Barbados are defending champions in both formats.

This will mark a significant return as the women’s tournaments were not played in 2020 and 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. During that period CWI continued its investment in the development of women’s players and organized several high-performance camps at the Coolidge Cricket Ground in Antigua and also hosted international series, including an inaugural Women’s “A” Team series, while the West Indies Women’s team also toured England, Pakistan and South Africa.

“We are delighted to see the return of the women’s regional tournament on our annual calendar as it is a crucial component of our cricket in the region. We are also pleased to have our international players in action on home soil playing with our regional players,” said Jimmy Adams, CWI’s Director of Cricket.

“Our women’s game is showing improvement, as was demonstrated with some good performances during the ICC Women’s Cricket World Cup in New Zealand earlier this year. Ideally, we want to see a further demonstration of that progress as we look to upcoming bilateral series and international events. Very importantly, the regional tournament will serve to identify players who could potentially graduate to our international squads in the near future.”

Soogrim returned figures of 3 for 5 from 4.5 overs while Schultz had figures of 3 for 36 in the match won by  Anisa Mohammed’s XI over Stafanie Taylor’s XI.

“We had a low-scoring game, but I was particularly pleased to see the effort by all the ladies on both teams. Even more impressed with the likes of young Soogrim and Schultz, the way how they bowled and the effort they put in. Also, the opening attack of Connell and Aaliyah Alleyne kept the batters on guard," Walsh said.

"It was a challenging wicket when we saw Deandra bat and then later on when Stafanie and Hayley batted, chasing the low score. We saw some good signs, a lot of positives to work from but still work to be done. I think all in all it was a good outing for just the first game and definitely, we will be working on improvements for the remaining matches.”

Batting first, Mohammed’s XI were bowled out for 112 in 30.5 overs thanks largely to Soogrim and Shamilia Connell who took 2 for 14 from the four overs she bowled. Deandra Dottin did her best to counter to incisive bowling scoring an unbeaten 51 while facing 80 balls.

Chasing 113, Taylor’s XI lost Hayley Matthews for 19 and Taylor for 26 as the side were bowled out for 104.

The 23-year-old Schultz was the standout left-arm orthodox bowler exhibited good control already demonstrating the benefits of the camp.