Windies Women primed for crucial New Zealand clash

Both West Indies Women’s head coach Shane Deitz and captain Hayley Matthews believe the regional side is well prepared to do battle against defending champions New Zealand in their ICC Women’s T20 World Cup opener here on Saturday.

The two teams met in the semifinals of the T20 World Cup in 2024, with New Zealand narrowly scraping home by eight runs in a low scoring contest.

This time around, Deitz said he expected another fiercely contested match between the two teams, which he believes are evenly constructed.

“It doesn’t really matter who we’re playing against. Obviously, New Zealand is a good team and they’re the defending champions and it was a good game we had with them in Dubai two years ago and if things had gone our way we probably would have gotten the better of them,” Deitz admitted.

“I think we’re two pretty evenly matched teams, so it will be really important to get off to a good start because it’s a really important game. I think we’re ready for it, the girls have had so much prep, so I think we’re just at that stage where we’re ready to go.”

Deitz said he expected conditions at the venue to favor both batters and bowlers.

“There’s been a lot of rain and it’s been pretty cold recently, so I expect the wicket to have something in it for the bowlers, particularly with the new ball, but usually when that happens over here on these really good grounds the ball comes on to the bat too.

“So I think if you bowl in good areas, you’re going to get a lot of assistance out of it and if you get in and bat well you can make a big score too,” he said.

However, the head coach gave no indication whether star all-rounder Chinelle Henry, who was injured during Wednesday’s warm-up match against Australia and had to be stretchered from the field, would be available for Saturday’s opener.

Chinelle Henry (right) is a veteran member of West Indies team

Captain Hayley Matthews acknowledged that Henry’s absence would be keenly felt if she fails to recover in time, underscoring the importance of the experienced all-rounder to the team’s World Cup campaign.

“She’s a leader in the team but also one of our opening bowlers, and a crucial batter at number five or six in the order, so it definitely would be a massive blow to us as a group.

“If she’s unable to play, we’d have to figure out a way to move on and yeah, still be able to hopefully win some matches,” she said.

 The two sides met at the semifinal stage of the tournament in 2024, when New Zealand defeated West Indies on the way to winning the title. Matthews however does not see a possible win being a way to extract an element of revenge.

“We probably didn’t have our best match that day and yeah, it was unfortunate how we went down. I think it is really good that we have them first at this competition, and I think it’s going to be a crucial matchup when we look at the groups,” she explained. “It’s a World Cup so every game you’re going to kind of have to be switched on, but this is certainly one where if we do get the better of them, it puts us in a really good position going into the remainder of the games.”

Matthews was named player of the match in the 2016 final when West Indies lifted the title. The Barbadian all rounder says she has since grown into her leadership role.

“I certainly learned a lot, definitely a different person, but also a different player, since getting the captaincy. I think just the biggest thing for me is learning how to separate the batting and the bowling, but also being a people manager. I think as a captain, you have a responsibility, to also make sure that other players are in the best possible space that they can be in,” she said.

West Indies have been plagued by inconsistency in recent years, with the team’s fortunes often heavily reflecting those of Matthews. She agrees that the current team is perhaps better suited to  tournament cricket than bilateral series.

“Yeah, I think history probably shows it quite a bit, for West Indies men’s and  women’s teams, that we tend to show up to the occasion a lot, so I guess I can’t really complain about that.” She continued, “Hopefully this is the year where we can go there and show up once more when it really matters.”

(KH/CMC)