Walsh says WI Women worthy of praise

WELLINGTON, New Zealand – Head coach Courtney Walsh has praised the tenacity shown by West Indies Women at the just concluded ICC Women’s World Cup, and believes reaching the semi-finals was a major achievement by the Caribbean side.

West Indies entered the tournament as underdogs but still managed to progress to the final four before being knocked out last week by eventual champions Australia Women.

Heavily favoured nations like India Women and hosts New Zealand failed to make the grade after finishing fifth and sixth respectively, following a competitive group stage.

“I’m particularly pleased that we made it to the semi-finals. I think coming here, if anyone had said we would’ve made it [to that stage] I’d have taken that,” the legendary former speedster said.

“The girls showed a lot of fight to get us into the semi-finals so I’m particularly pleased about that.

“I would say it was a very good campaign for us. I know the results probably didn’t look that way in a couple of the games but I think the campaign overall and what we have achieved is something for everybody involved to be proud of.

“I’m just happy for the way the campaign went overall.”

West Indies Women produced shocking upsets in their two opening games, stunning the hosts by three runs in a last-over thriller in Mount Maunganui before toppling the defending champions England by seven runs in Dunedin, in another tense affair.

The Stafanie Taylor-led side came back down to earth with crushing defeats at the hands of India and Australia, before pulling off another nerve-jangling last-over win, defending 140 to beat Bangladesh by four runs also in Mount Maunganui.

An upset at the hands of Pakistan Women and a no-result against South Africa Women left West Indies needing other results to go their way in order to qualify for the semi-finals.

“The girls must be applauded for the fighting qualities they showed and everything they brought to the table,”Walsh said.

“Yes, I know there will be other questions asked and a few people maybe disappointed but I think overall, when you look at it, we as a team know where we went wrong but it was good to see improvements being made nevertheless.”

Not for the first time, West Indies got erratic performances from many of their leading players. Hayley Matthews struck a century in the tournament’s opening game but failed to register another fifty, finishing as her side’s leading scorer with 260 runs at an average of 37.

The 23-year-old Matthews, who bowls off-spin, was also West Indies’ leading wicket-taker with ten wickets.

Deandra Dottin gathered 199 runs at an average of 28 and managed only one half-century while the usually prolific Taylor mustered only 151 runs at an average of 21.

Shemaine Campbelle notched two half-centuries, however, finishing with 185 runs at an average of 30.

Walsh said it was critical more players continued to contribute instead of the over-reliance on the usual pillars of the side.

“We had some other individual performances apart from our big trio. That’s something to work with and you want to see more of that,” Walsh noted.

“You want more people to be putting their hand up in the team to help the team so we can achieve greater or better success.

“That’s particularly pleasing to see we have people challenging other people for places as well because once we get competitive on the inside with our own setup and play, that will only improve, and then we will be able to compete against teams that are higher ranked than us.” (CMC)