West Indies Women captain Hayley Matthews is relieved to have the additional firepower of players returning from injury, heading into the team’s upcoming T20 series against South Africa and India. 

Ahead of its three-team series, the Windies Women will be bolstered by the return of former captain and star all-rounder Stafanie Taylor, bowler’s Shamilia Connell, Shakera Selman and Britney Cooper.  Cooper was not injured, but the experienced middle order batsman will be playing in the team for the first time since 2021.

Taylor, in the meantime, has not featured for the team since the second ODI against New Zealand in September.  It’s safe to say Matthews has noticed the absence of the team’s more experienced players.  

The Windies have struggled to make an impact at the crease, recently, losing 3-0 last month in their ODI series against England, and 5-0 in the T20 format.

“It’s really good to have a lot of our players back. We had a couple of injuries over the past couple months which at the same time would have given some of the younger players really good opportunity,” Matthews told members of the media.

“But to have the senior core back, really gives us a strong team coming into a series like this. We’re thankful to have her (Taylor) back and know she’s been the gel of this team for quite some time now and has so much experience and knowledge on the game,” she added.

“Hopefully she gets an opportunity to go out there and get things rolling before the World Cup comes up.”

With the Women’s T20 World Cup set to begin next month, the team will play at least four matches in the upcoming series, playing two matches each against South Africa and India. The two top teams will then play each other in the Tri-Series final on February 2.