‘I’m just ready’ – Qiana Joseph

Hayley Matthews looked at Qiana Joseph in the changeroom at the innings break on Tuesday, and thought something was wrong.

West Indies needed to chase down 142 to qualify for the T20 World Cup semifinals for the first time since 2018 – a target Matthew later said she’d have “bitten your hand off” for at the start of the game.

It turns out Joseph was simply in the mood.

“When we went into the changing room at halftime, I looked at her and I said: ‘What’s wrong? You look like you’re upset.’ She said: ‘I’m just ready.’

“She’s always up for it, man. And it’s great to have characters like that within the dressing room, especially as a West Indies team who are probably always underdogs. We need fighters within the team and she’s a great example of that.”

Joseph didn’t just fight. She pummelled England into submission.

England, who had beaten West Indies in their 13 previous games dating back to 2018, had come into the tournament tipped as finalists with their vast resources and unbeaten record in the group stages.

In her 15th T20I, Joseph had a big role to fill at the top of the order with Stafanie Taylor – West Indies’ leading run-scorer before the start of the game – succumbing to a knee injury she has been carrying through the tournament.

Already the 23-year-old Joseph had shown her versatility, opening the batting in the first game – a 10-wicket loss to South Africa – before dropping below Taylor to No. 3 as West Indies sailed past Scotland. She dropped into a floating role next, listed at No. 6 against Bangladesh but not required as West Indies won by eight wickets.

Against England, Joseph blasted her way to a career-best 52 off just 38 balls with six fours and two sixes as she and Matthews took West Indies to the highest powerplay of the tournament so far at 67 without loss.

Midway through the innings the duo learned they needed to reach the target in 19 overs to finish ahead of South Africa at the top of Group B on net run rate. West Indies got the job done on the last ball of the 18th, Aaliyah Alleyne piercing the covers to find the boundary off Sophie Ecclestone and close an innings built by Joseph and Matthews.

The duo shared a 102-run stand off just 74 balls with Matthews, who played her best innings so far with 50 off 38 – her first half-century against England – after scores of 10, 8 and 34.

It was only the second time both openers had scored 50 or more in a women’s T20I for West Indies, the first time being when they beat Australia in the 2016 T20 World Cup final. Joseph reached her maiden fifty off just 34 balls, the fastest against England at the T20 World Cup.

The Saint Lucian was in the West Indies’ T20 World Cup squad in 2018 as a 17-year-old, largely as a left-arm spinner, but her ball-striking has improved markedly in recent times, prompting her move up the order.

Earlier this year, she played largely as an opener in an away series against Pakistan, which West Indies won 4-1, and was used as a pinch-hitter in a 2-1 series win in Sri Lanka.

Despite those results, West Indies hadn’t been expected to do so well here, possibly because of a well-documented lack of resources compared to the likes of India and England, both of whom are now out of the reckoning.

“I think a lot of people wrote us off coming into this tournament,” Matthews said. “The way we’ve been able to go about our cricket, especially after the start we had against South Africa, we’ve just bounced back against Scotland, against Bangladesh.

“We haven’t beat England in about six years. As far as I can remember, the last time we beat them was back in 2018, but everyone still came here with a belief and a fight and it just shows what we can do as a West Indian team. A lot of people coming up against us know that if it’s one thing we’ve got, it’s a lot of heart and a lot of fight and we showed that today.”

Particularly pleasing for West Indies was the fact Joseph was able to step up in Taylor’s absence so that by the time Deandra Dottin came in to score 27 off 19 striking at 142.10, the bulk of the work was done.

“When we look at individuals within this team, so many times we would hear only ‘Deandra or Hayley or Staf will put in performances’, but one thing we can say we’ve started to see this year is others really stepping up,” Matthew said. “Karishma [Ramharack] with 4-17 against Bangladesh] last game, Qiana Joseph this game, and it’s just going to make us more and more dangerous.”

By topping their group, West Indies avoid favourites Australia in the semifinals and will face New Zealand on Friday in Sharjah. Australia play South Africa in Dubai on Thursday. And Matthews was confident the entire Caribbean would be behind her team.

“Honestly speaking, we probably just don’t have it like the rest a lot of the time,” she said. “Back home in the Caribbean, sometimes we don’t have facilities and a lot of our girls come from very humble beginnings. To be given this opportunity to come out, represent your nation and make a living out of it, every single person, it changes their lives.”

(ESPNCricinfo)